Heindale Dairy Farm
As the new year rings in and the throes of crisis still abound, I hearken back to the first time I met the Heineman family. It was 2019 and I remember it vividly because it was the day I learned that farm families are tougher than a two-dollar steak. We gathered around their kitchen table with coffee during an afternoon break before the second milking so I could learn more about their farm as part of a Farmland Protection Grant application. A 100-pound Doberman named Zeus barreled in from the other room and Ron Heineman let out a belly of a laugh as I tensed. An hour passed and most of the conversation centered around the Buffalo Bills, raising backyard chickens, kids, and jokes about their farming neighbors. This is the way it often is at the table of a farm family.
“As a farmer, it’s been said that you never work a day in your life if you find joy in what you do. There are up days and down days, but for us, as a family…it’s true” -Ron Heineman
Ron and Michelle Heineman moved their children, herd and entire way of life from Buffalo to Caledonia in 2004 after the land they worked and rented began to be subdivided for homes. They had grown their dairy herd and business with nothing more than a $5,000 line of credit after renting cows and a barn while dating in high school. Ron experienced adversity early when his father was killed in a tractor incident at the of age 4. The coming years brought more trouble as their cattle contracted Johne’s disease, a bacterial infection of the small intestine that can devastate a herd. Shortly after the herd and operation recovered, their first-born son Kenny passed away. After years of reflection and mourning, Ron and Michelle recommitted themselves to the life they had worked so hard to create and did what they’ve always done; overcame.
The Heineman children—Kacey (27), Kayla (22), and Kyle (15)—all specialize on the farm through innovation and creativity in a time when consumer preferences and economic conditions require it. Whether it’s researching new ways to churn out ice cream from their dairy products, raising and harvesting hogs, or keeping fresh products on their farm stand, they know what it means to commit to a life of farming and they’ve hopped on the roller coaster. The family most recently had to rebuild a barn struck by a fire and had to help Ron recover after being attacked by a bull in 2012.
It was that day at the kitchen table and in the coming year through more conversations that I would learn that this family could teach us all a thing or two about resilience. The Heindale Dairy Farm was conditionally awarded a Dairy Transitions grant on 468 acres through the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Farmland Protection Program. The Genesee Valley Conservancy team wrote and submitted the grant in order to conserve the Heineman’s valuable farmland in a geography that is facing significant conversion of arable land to non-agricultural uses. The grant is also oriented to help the family transition ownership to the next generation so the land will continue to be worked. The grant project was disrupted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting budgetary quicksand. It’s unclear when the grant project can resume, and while the Heindales patiently await news, they’ve kept resolute by chopping corn, taking care of their livestock, and getting up extra early so they can still catch the Buffalo Bills after the day’s work.
“Can you come out New Year’s Eve instead, Matt?”, read a text massage from Ron in advance of our meeting for me to snap a few photographs of the family. “We’ve got a skid loader down and now we need to haul menorah from the lagoon while it’s cold.” Ron likes to save time by dictating his texts via the voice feature and it often results in typos like “menorah” instead of “manure.” I knew what he meant and wondered to myself how many thousands of changes—big and small— the Heindales have made in order to adapt with the times.
As we exchanged texts over the Buffalo Bills playoff game, Ron shared a final thought on his family's farm doctrine. He recalls the 1990’s Buffalo Bills Superbowl run and a lesson they took from that string of heartbreak as a fan. Then quarterback Jim Kelly, when asked about the final Superbowl loss, said something to the effect that the team in fact didn’t lose, they simply ran out of time and weren’t done competing yet. Akin to this core belief to get up and keep competing, Ron and his family know who they are, where they’ve been, and that together, they can get through anything. I like to think they’ve earned that. I’d like to think that this year, of all the years, all those who woke up and continued to keep our society running earned that.
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As Genesee Valley Conservancy and the Heineman family wait to re-start the farmland protection project at the Heindale Dairy Farm, workshops have been scheduled for farmland owners who wish to learn about New York State’s Farmland Protection Grants (what the requirements are, how to apply, and what it means for their long-term ownership and farming). Workshops are now scheduled in Livingston and Wyoming counties. Attendance at a workshop is required before submitting and application to your respective county for farmland protection grant opportunities.
