A Matamata couple have gone out from their current farming role on a high note.

Glenn and Georgie van Heuven were named Share Farmers of the Year at the recent Waikato Dairy Industry Awards.

This is their last season as sharemilkers on a Tower Rd property, with June 1 marking a move to a 50% equity partnership on Horahora Rd, near Karapiro.

They first entered the Dairy Industry Awards – winning two merit awards – nine years ago when contract milking on Glenn’s parents’ farm in Matamata.

After eight seasons sharemilking on the Tower Rd block, they decided it would be good to reflect on their time there.

“We thought about it last winter but only got around to entering on the last night,” says Glenn.

Summer prep

Preparation over summer included collation of farm records and developing a presentation focusing on key areas of their operation – financial planning, staff (including themselves), environmental space, making systems less complicated, herd improvement and the new position on June 1.

These factors were part of a two-hour-long interview with judges at the Waikato final of the Dairy Industry Awards.

On-farm aspects were also covered by the judges, including pasture and livestock management, dairy hygiene and health and safety.

Despite having no practice going into the regional final, Glenn and Georgie thought they “did all right” through the process.

Merit awards were announced first at the awards dinner, held at the Sir Don Rowlands Events Centre in Cambridge.

The van Heuvens claimed the Ecolab Total Farm Hygiene & Innovation Award, Federated Farmers Leadership Award, Honda Farm Safety, Health & Biosecurity Award and Bluegrass Contracting Environmental Sustainability Award.

Once third and then second placegetters were announced in the Share Farmer of the Year category, Glenn and Georgie thought the moment might be lost.

Winning the grand prize was a “nice surprise”.

“With feedback from the judges on your own journey, just entering is a valuable experience even if you don’t win,” says Georgie.

“You challenge yourself,” she says. “We highly recommend it.”

They now go on to the national final at Rotorua in May.

Preparation for this will be based on feedback from the Waikato judges, plus some “fine tuning of other things”.

New challenge

In the meantime, they are busy with calving, along with the prospect of the June move.

On the 103-hectare Tower Rd property, the van Heuvens milk 405 cows in a 30-a-side herringbone shed.

Two staff are employed on the farm, which is changing owners on June 1.

The 240-hectare Horahora Rd property has 450 cows, milked in a 54-bale rotary shed, plus young stock.

Glenn, 37, and Georgie, 36, had been talking to the co-owners for two years about entering into an equity partnership.

The Karapiro block is in rolling country, with native planting undertaken on parts featuring hills and wetlands.

They will have two staff, one full-time and another part-time, through the Growing Future Farmers programme.

In the future, the van Heuvens “plan to grow” through other potential opportunities with the equity partnership and eventually full farm ownership.

From a farming family in Matamata, Glenn attended Hinuera Primary and Matamata College.

Beginnings

Georgie hails from Wairarapa, growing up on her parents’ sheep and beef farm at Masterton, which they sold 15 years ago.

She attended Bideford Primary and St Matthew’s Collegiate School for Girls.

The pair met at Massey University when studying for a Bachelor of Applied Science degree, majoring in Agriculture, with Georgie adding a second major of Property Valuation and Management and a Postgraduate Diploma in Agribusiness.

Glenn worked on a Matamata farm for two years before heading overseas for a year, where he drove tractors on an English farm.

On his return to New Zealand, he worked for a few months on a Tokoroa farm before taking up a role managing a property near Matamata for a year.

He then went contract milking on the 160-hectare family farm for four years, initially milking 360 cows in a 24-a-side herringbone shed.

Commercial cropping was gradually removed from the block, with the herd size growing to 500 and the shed was changed to a 54-bale rotary.

After university, Georgie worked for an insurance company in Pukekohe for five years, before completing a nine-year stint in banking in Matamata. She is now a rural manager at Rabobank.

The van Heuvens have three children – Zara (2 in June), Max, 4, and Harry, 6.

Georgie is also involved in Meet the Need, a charity organisation that seeks donations of milk, meat, or money from farmers for foodbanks and similar community groups.

On the farm, they annually host a Year 10 mathematics class from Matamata College as part of the Secondary School Employer Partnership and have also been involved in the college Gateway (work experience) programme.