2022 FMG Young Farmer Grand Final profiles: Chris Poole, Waikato/Bay of Plenty

Chris Poole, Waikato/ Bay of Plenty FMG Young Farmer of the Year 2022. Photo / Supplied

The 2022 FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest series Grand Final takes place from July 7 to 9 in Whangārei, with seven regional finalists competing for the title. Read on to get to know Waikato/Bay of Plenty Young Farmer of the Year Chris Poole a little better.

Using technology to reduce their environmental footprint and take better care of their herd is part of everyday business for dairy farmers Chris and Emma Poole.

They were the first farm in the country to trial brand new cow collar technology from the Netherlands, Connecterra in 2019.

Chris Poole, the Waikato/Bay of Plenty FMG Young Farmer of the Year, is adamant technology will go a long way to improving the dairy industry.

"No one has got time to be in the paddock constantly watching your cows every hour, every day of the year," he said.

Using machine learning, Connecterra analyses the data it collects from each cow and informs of problems before they're visible.

"They're on the cows 24/7 monitoring how much they're eating, how much time they're spending sitting down, walking, standing – which indicates health problems before they arise and before we'd normally see them," Poole said.

"You get a text and an app notification on your phone, then it'll even draft her automatically as well, so she is sorted out from the rest of the mob already.

"By picking up on those things earlier, you can limit the antibiotics you'd use to fix that animal because she's not as sick as she'd be when you'd usually find her."

The biggest aid he thinks Connecterra provides is at mating time, one of the most important events in the dairy calendar, where the collars can automatically find and tell you when a cow is on heat.

"Traditionally farmers are physically checking their cows manually every day and you tend to get fatigued, tired and the level of accuracy decreases, so it takes that human error out of it."

The technology could completely change the job, Poole said.

"A lot of young farmers get worn down because there are so many mundane tasks, so if there's anything to reduce that, then it's going to increase the longevity that young farmer is going to have in that job."

The couple is in an equity partnership with Chris's parents, John and Anne Poole, on the family farm near Pirongia.

Juggling family life with their new five-month-old son Beau, Emma is also a veterinarian for Vetora, and Chris is a part-time customer success manager for Connecterra.

John and Anne Poole are still heavily involved in the farm, taking care of the drystock  block and checking in on the dairy farm every day.

They milk 720 crossbred cows and rear 850 beef calves across 202 hectares on a system five, growing a lot of their own feed and buying it in for higher production per hectare, per cow.

"Our system is designed to be able to fully feed our cows every day of the year, no matter what the conditions are," Poole said.

"If you get a good season and grow more grass, you just do it cheaper. You always know how much production you're going to do, the thing that changes is how much it's going to cost to do it."

Reducing their environmental footprint and wastage on-farm is a priority; they've cut bobby calves out of the farming system completely, adding them into the business as beef calves.

They're also cutting down their herd while maintaining milk production, by putting the same amount of feed into better-producing cows.

They aimed for genetic gain by breeding from their best cows, Poole said.

"We've just bought a really well-bred, top herd as well so we'll be able to reduce the total number of cows we'll be milking which is the biggest thing you can do to reduce nitrate leaching and the likes."

Small technology additions to improve proficiency and personal input are scattered throughout their business – such as a tractor GPS to ensure fertiliser is being put on areas to have the biggest impact on growth and staying away from the loaded nutrient areas, such as gateways and troughs.

"We just want to make sure we're getting the most out of everything."

Poole was about 10 years old when his parents bought the farm in the Waikato, after moving from Taranaki.

He went to boarding school at Sacred Heart College in Auckland from year nine.

Poole loved the school but found he had to adjust to being in the Big Smoke.

"It was a bit of a shock putting a country pig in the city," he joked.

The move to the city was for his own good.

"Any chance there was to go on the farm after school or get a couple of days off to go to the sales, I would jump at, so they sent me there to focus on finishing school.

"They removed me from the distraction because they couldn't really remove the distraction."

A Massey University Alumni, Poole has a bachelor of Agri-Science, graduating in 2016, before heading back to the family farm after his last exam.

He also started his own relief milking business while studying, to earn some extra cash and meet some farmers in the region.

It took off over his three years at university.

Emma and Chris Poole. Photo / Supplied

At one point, he had 15 sheds on the go and about 15 students subbing in too, taking a bit of a cut from each shed for organising.

He met Emma, then a vet student, at Massey University Young Farmers in  2014.

They married just before the country went into lockdown in March 2020.

Poole always wanted to compete in FMG Young Farmer of the Year, after watching it on TV and being involved with New Zealand Young Farmers' Clubs since university.

He learned by talking to people, but he reckoned patience was one of his weaknesses.

However, making decisions fast was a strength and something that worked to his advantage in the contest environment.

"As much as you need to be as well prepared as you can, a lot of it is out of your control and depends on what gets thrown at you on the day."

"There's a lot of things over the years that I've picked up and learnt studying, in life and on the farm, that I've taken for granted, or never really thought about. And then it pops up in the contest and I sort of think, 'oh I know that'," he said.

Brothers-in-law Tim Dangen (left) and Chris Poole will be going head to head at the Grand Final Photo / Supplied

Poole was looking forward to the contest and had a couple of close family connections.

Not only was Emma a 2019 Grand Finalist, but Poole will be competing against his brother-in-law, Northern's Tim  Dangen this year.

Hoping to use his platform to bridge the rural/urban divide, Poole already speaks to school students at St Patrick's School in Te Awamutu and Sacred Heart, at career days, showcasing how dairy is a great career choice.

Poole said his lifelong goal was to create a business that was financially and environmentally stable, to enable a bit of freedom for him and Emma to dabble in some side projects they both enjoyed - such as breeding, stud animals or some other "fun" animal things.

Vote for Chris Poole in the 2022 FMG Young Farmer of the Year People's Choice Award here.