Show prize in honour of tragic farmer, 24

WHEN SOME of the country’s finest Ayrshire cattle are proudly paraded around the show ring next week, they will be competing for a trophy that has been added to the prizes at the Great Yorkshire Show in honour of one of the breed’s keenest local fans.

The Michael Spink Memorial Perpetual Trophy has been launched by Yorkshire Agricultural Society in memory of the late Michael Spink, a 24-year-old dairy farmer from Knaresborough who died in an accident in New Zealand in January.

Mr Spink’s family, including parents Jane and Graham, sisters Jennifer, 26 and Rachel, 21, and brother Matthew, 16, were at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate last night for the trophy’s unveiling ahead of the show.

Mrs Spink said: “Mike absolutely loved the Great Yorkshire Show and he would have loved to have had his name on an Ayrshire trophy. This is not the way he would have intended it, but it’s the next best thing.

“He loved his Ayrshire cattle, his dad had bought him some to manage when he was eight and he loved them.

“Mike had also bought some Ayrshire calves before he went to New Zealand and asked us to look after them for him. They were to form the nucleus of his own herd when he eventually returned to this country.

“This is something really positive for us and we are so honoured to have a trophy dedicated to him.”

The trophy will be presented to the Ayrshire heifer champion on Tuesday at the 159th Great Yorkshire Show.