Three people who died after visiting an agricultural show in Dorset were honoured.

Dennis Smith, a dairy judge, and his partners Claire and Andy of Oakroyal Holsteins Farm died in a car accident after attending the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show.

Mr Smith was a judge at the Supreme Dairy Championship on both Wednesday 14th August and Thursday 15th August prior to his death.

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He spent his final days “doing something he absolutely loved,” Oakroyal Holsteins Farm said.

Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show (Image: Salisbury Newspapers)

The Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show added: “It is with deep sadness that the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Agricultural Society announces the devastating news of the death of Dennis Smith, who was a judge at the Supreme Dairy Championship yesterday, as well as the deaths of Claire, his partner and Andy (Oakroyal).

“Our thoughts are with friends and family at this time. It is a tragic loss for cattle exhibition and judging and a sad moment for the Holstein breed.”

In December, Mr Smith won the Lifetime Achievement Award from Holstein UK.

He joined the Young Farmers and represented Somerset in the final of the National Stock Judging Championship, which he won at just 16 years of age. He then spent many years as a stock judging coach for the Devon Young Farmers team.

He became herder of the Pottrells herd for R. Stafford-Smith, where his father was farm manager. He was given the opportunity to keep a cow and so purchased a well-bred Terling heifer. This was the beginning of the Oakroyal herd, the prefix of which was registered when Mr. Smith was 16 years old.

Mr Smith was offered a job at United Cattle Breeders to set up this new AI company. The company then became part of CBS where he eventually rose to become a non-executive director.

Over these years Mr Smith devoted himself to cattle photography for CBS, other AI companies, individual herds around the country and the Society. Cows were bought, bred, developed and sold. In the early 1980s he took on a farm lease and continued to photograph for a while, whilst also acting as a purchasing agent for exporting cattle for British Livestock and LMS.

The herd was built up and entered the Devon Club’s first ever herd competition where they won the small herd category and continued these victories until the entire dairy section of the herd was sold to Lanhydrock Estate.

A couple of years after the dairy herd was sold, the small herd section was won again, which continued every year until the herd was broken up. Oakroyal represented Devon and won the southern region of the UK Premier Herd Competition seven times, taking two third places and a second place in the finals, before winning the title of Champion Herd in 2018. The herd was successfully broken up the following week, averaging £2002 per lifetime, which was an extremely high price at the time.