NI farmers wait for test results

Detailed inspections of farms have been carried out

Northern Ireland's agriculture minister has said she hopes tests will prove the province free of foot-and-mouth disease on Friday, after further outbreaks in England.

Brid Rodgers and Northern Ireland Chief Veterinary Officer Robert McCracken are to meet the assembly agriculture committee later on Friday morning.

It is hoped there will be enough evidence to persuade the European Commission to lift the export ban on Northern Ireland produce when the situation is reviewed early next week.

On Thursday, Mr McCracken said tests had found no trace of the disease at three farms in the province checked by Department of Agriculture vets.

The farms had supplied animals to an abattoir in Essex, where the outbreak was first discovered among pigs on Monday.

Mr McCracken said: "We have carried out clinical examinations of all three farms.

"We have taken samples and those still have to be tested, but we are hopeful that these three farms are not involved."

Lorry trace

Agriculture officials are also checking reports that the lorry which took pigs from the province to the Essex abattoir, and brought back sheep, later went to the Republic of Ireland.

Brid Rodgers has banned British livestock imports to NI

However, Mr McCracken said that the sheep brought back in the lorry had been slaughtered in Northern Ireland, and that he was hopeful that under proper procedures it would have been properly disinfected.

"All vehicles arriving in Northern Ireland are meant to be cleansed and disinfected, and lorries should be disinfected between each batch of livestock carried," he said.

While it has no effect on people, foot-and-mouth disease is one of the most feared diseases in the farming industry.

There has not been an outbreak of the infection in Northern Ireland since 1941.

Ulster Farmers' Union president Douglas Rowe went to London for crisis talks with British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown on Thursday.

The union fears that the outbreak could have catastrophic implications for the province's livestock and milk exports, if a source of infection is found.

Trade bans

The Irish Government banned the importation of all animal products from the United Kingdom, including the province.

Irish police and customs officers are patrolling the border to enforce it.

The European Commission also announced its worldwide ban on UK livestock.

For her part, Brid Rodgers said she had had no choice, but to impose trade restrictions on livestock coming into Northern Ireland.

She said: "Farmers are already facing a difficult situation, which is why I quickly acted to ban the import of all hooved animals here from Great Britain.

"But I hope we will be able to get back to normal trading after the source of the infection has been established."

Meanwhile, a third foot-and-mouth case has been confirmed at a cattle farm near Brentwood in Essex.

It is close to the abattoir and a farm where the disease was first discovered.

Restrictions on animal movements have also been placed around a farm in Northumberland, where a suspected case is being investigated.