Shock as foot-and-mouth confirmed (From Witney Gazette)

Shock as foot-and-mouth confirmed

FARMERS across Oxfordshire are bracing themselves after foot-and-mouth was confirmed at a Surrey farm- and praying the Government has learned from the lessons of the devastating 2001 epidemic.

An emergency operation aimed at halting the spread of the disease, which financially crippled the farming industry six years ago, swung into action this weekend .

A nationwide ban on the movement of all sheep, cattle and pigs has been put in place.

Brian Bowden, who keeps 160 beef cattle at Bradley Farm in Cumnor, said: "It's a very nasty shock for us all after the terrible business of six years ago.

"All I hope is this time it's handled a great deal better than it was by the Government last time.

"It affects everything. We are arable farmers as well and it affects the trade from that too. We are very worried and very anxious."

Colin Dawes, of Foxbury Farm, Brize Norton, which has 90 sheep, 250 cattle, 250 pigs, and a farm shop, said: "We are waiting to see what happens and if the measures they have put in place will work.

"We are obviously concerned because if the control measures don't work, it could spread like it did last time.

"Nobody wants to go through what we had to then. The farming industry doesn't need a knock like that.

"We can survive for three weeks without moving any animals and by that time, it will either all be over or it will have spread into large areas."

Cogges Manor Farm Museum, Witney, is continuing with its summer events programme.

Manager Francesca Jones said: "At the moment, there is extreme concern. We are keeping an eye on the situation very closely, and if it is recommended we do so, we will cancel."

Sheep farmers in Thame faced an agonising wait after vets spent the weekend examining 3,000 animals which had been sold at a sheep fair at the town's farmers' market on Friday.

Auctioneer Simon Draper said: "The animals were deemed to be in transit so they could be moved providing there are no suspected animals here.

"We had to go through 3,000 sheep to see if any of them are lame or have gone lame overnight and find out what the cause is."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has put a 3km "protection zone" and a 10km "surveillance zone" in place around the Surrey farm. The farm has been under restrictions since late on Thursday evening when symptoms were reported to the local animal health office.

The Government's Cobra emergency contingencies committee has met to discuss the outbreak and it is understood vaccination is one of the control measures under discussion.

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers Union, said he had "enormous concern" about the situation and added: "The livestock sector - beef and sheep - are still struggling very badly. This will be a major disappointment to the industry if it was a large outbreak."

Tim Bonner, spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, said: "Farmers around the country will be hoping and praying that this is an isolated incident and that the disease is not already widespread. We hope and pray that the lessons from last time have been learned. The handling of the crisis in 2001 was an unmitigated disaster."

q=cfbardsely@nqo.com LAB LINK INVESTIGATED OFFICIALS were last nightsun examining whether the outbreak on a farm in Surrey was caused by a nearby animal laboratory.

Organisations based at the site, however, denied there had been a biosecurity breach.

As details emerged linking the disease found on a farm near Guildford to the Pirbright Laboratory a few miles away, the farmer whose cattle contracted the disease said the outbreak was not his fault.

Defra has revealed the strain of the virus on the infected farm, near the village of Normandy, was the same as one used at the laboratory site and not one recently found in animals. The Pirbright site is shared by the Government-funded Institute for Animal Health, an international diagnostic laboratory, and pharmaceutical company Merial Animal Health.

Farmer Derrick Pride, whose cattle were slaughtered on Saturday, said "It is nothing to do with us. It is something beyond our control."

The 2001 outbreak cost £8bn to deal with, and 9,000 farms received £1.3bn compensation.