Dennis Smith Gillingham Car Accident – Respected agricultural judge Dennis Smith tragically passed away in a car accident during Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show, together with his partner Claire and Andy of Oakroyal Holsteins farm.
According to a memorial from the show organizers, Mr. Smith spent his final few days judging cattle, which is what he loves doing the most. The event took place in Motcombe, north Dorset, over two days on August 14 and 15. Smith served as the Supreme Dairy Championship judge yesterday.
Who was Dennis Smith?
Dennis Smith was a highly esteemed judge of agriculture. Early in childhood, Mr. Smith joined the Young Farmers and competed for Somerset in the National Stock Judging Finals, taking home the title at the age of sixteen.
After that, he spent many years training the Devon Young Farmers team in stock judging. In addition, the Somerset farmer joined his father as farm manager at R Stafford-Smith, where he was the herdsman for the Pottrells herd.
Given the chance to own a cow, he purchased a well-bred Terling heifer. At the age of sixteen, Dennis registered the prefix, marking the beginning of the Oakroyal herd.
A position with United Cattle Breeders in starting this new AI business was extended to Mr. Smith. After then, the business joined CBS, where he finally rose to the position of non-executive director.
Mr. Smith began photographing cattle over these years for CBS, other AI firms, individual herds around the country, and the general public. We bought, bred, produced, and sold cows. A farm was leased in the early 1980s, and the owner continued to operate a photography business and serve as a buying agent for cattle intended for export by British Livestock and LMS.
About Dennis Smith
The herd was grown and participated in the inaugural Devon Club Herds Competition, where it won the small herd division and kept winning until the herd’s whole milking portion was sold to Lanhydrock Estate. The small herd part was won again a few years after the milking herd was sold, and this cycle continued annually until the herd dispersion.
Before winning Champion Herd in 2018, Oakroyal, a Devon-based team, placed second and third in the finals of the UK Premier Herd Competition seven times. The next week the herd was successfully distributed at an average price per life of £2002, an extraordinarily expensive deal at the time.