First stage of disease checks complete

Vets began herding most of the area's 13,000 sheep

The first 6,000 sheep from the Brecon Beacons have been successfully blood tested by vets in an attempt to assess whether foot-and-mouth has reached the foothills.

Visual checks of the animals as the tests were carried out near Libanus on Sunday and no obvious signs of the virus were found.

More than 13,000 sheep graze on the Brecon Beacons

But experts said the blood tests due to be returned in five days time will provide conclusive proof, one way or the other.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Blair has ordered the suspension of clear-up operations on English and Welsh farms amid concerns over costs.

It is thought the operation could cost the government up to £800m.

But Tory AM Glyn Davies said the development was "very worrying" and he accused Mr Blair of "turning his back" on farmers.

NFU Cymru President Hugh Richards said he was "disappointed" by the decision.

The testing of up to 13,000 began amid fears that the disease was regaining a foothold in the area, after positive cases at Libanus and Crickhowell.

Crisis in Wales

Total confirmed cases in Wales - 107

Powys - 68 cases

Anglesey - 13 cases

Monmouthshire - 19 cases

Caerphilly 2

Rhondda Cynon Taff - 1

Neath Port Talbot -1

Newport - 3

It is the biggest operation of its kind in Wales since the epidemic began in February, involving an area of 10 square kilometres.

Farmers and DEFRA officials have built four special holding pens to keep the sheep until test results are returned in around a week.

Meanwhile, organisers of the Royal Welsh Show are counting the costs of the cancellation of the event.

On what would have been the opening day, it is estimated the event has lost £600,000, which will take three years to recover.

The local economy has also lost many millions of pounds in revenue from the loss of more than 200,000 visitors to the Builth Wells area.

In the Beacons, the outcome of initial tests came as a relief to many farmers who feared that the tens of thousands of sheep which are kept on the hillsides near Brecon might have faced slaughter

As a precaution, a ban on the movement of all animals has been extended as far as the Heads of the Valleys and into the Upper Swansea Valley.

Carwyn Jones has been trying to reassure farmers

The only livestock allowed to move are now those bound for slaughter.

But farmers remain nervous - any spread of the disease would be a disastrous blow.

Wales had gone a whole month without a confirmed case of foot-and-mouth when an outbreak on a farm in Libanus surprised and devastated Brecon locals.

Troubled Powys business owners are hoping for encouraging results from the latest round of tests.