Farm slaughter restrictions eased

Animal keepers have been urged to follow biosecurity measures

Farmers across most of England can now take livestock to slaughter after the government's chief vet relaxed foot-and-mouth quarantine measures.

Restrictions have already been eased in Scotland and Wales, but they will remain in place in the surveillance zone around infected sites in Surrey.

Livestock can still not be traded or moved for any other reason - a ban farmers have called "heartbreaking".

Pigs on a farm near the two infected premises are to be culled.

If I don't sell my cattle it means I have to keep feeding them and that costs money Matthew Bainbridge Cumbrian farmer Misery for farmers across UK

Defra took the decision to cull the pigs after veterinary tests for the disease proved inconclusive, it said.

The slaughter restriction was lifted at midnight on Saturday and applies only to animals outside the surveillance zone around the infected premises at Egham in Surrey.

A 3km (1.8-mile) protection zone has been set up around the farmland, with a 10km (6.2-mile) surveillance zone encircling it.

As of midnight, a general licence was issued that allows:

• Direct movements of cattle, sheep and pigs from farms to listed abattoirs
• Direct movements of cattle and sheep from farms to listed abattoirs via an approved collection centre or a slaughter market

Zones are imposed around places where outbreaks have been confirmed and related sites Enlarge Map

Chief vet Debby Reynolds said: "We continue to take a risk-based, staged approach to movement controls.

"It is essential that all animal keepers, hauliers, abattoirs and those responsible for collection centres follow stringent biosecurity measures and all licence conditions."

Kevin Pearce, chief livestock advisor to the National Farmers' Union, said it was an "encouraging signal" as vets would have considered there to be a "very low" risk of spreading the disease before easing restrictions

He told BBC News: "The animals are not going anywhere other than to a slaughterhouse - there is no chance of them coming back home to spread disease."

Mr Pearce said there were hopes that the processing of livestock would be back up and running by early next week.

Signs 'vandalised'

Estimates of the cost of the latest outbreak have been put at almost £10m a day.

But there was some good news when the farmer at the centre of last month's incident, Roger Pride, said he was reopening his farm shop.

His cattle were slaughtered when they were found to have been infected with a foot and mouth strain leaked from the nearby Pirbright laboratories.

Following the latest outbreak in Egham, there were reports that closure signs on footpaths around farms affected by the outbreak had been torn down, and that people had been side-stepping disinfectant mats.

WHY IS THE VIRUS BACK? The foot-and-mouth virus is less symptomatic in sheep so an infection from the first outbreak could have been overlooked The virus can survive in soil for up to 28 days It can also survive in water for up to 50 days Foot-and-mouth can also linger in hay and straw for up to 20 weeks It could be a new strain of the virus, but experts say this is unlikely

Police and trading standards officials were monitoring the area, and stopping people in their cars to make sure they did not breach any of the restrictions.

Penalties for ignoring the rules include maximum fines of £5,000 and a prison sentence of up to six months.

Kate Ashbrook, chairman of the Ramblers' Association, said: "It is disappointing to hear that people are vandalising signs when co-operation is very much needed to eradicate this terrible disease."

The movement ban was put in place across Britain when a case of foot-and-mouth disease was discovered in cattle on land in Egham on Wednesday. It was later confirmed on a second farm.

This followed an outbreak in the same county in August. The area had, in the meantime, been declared foot-and-mouth free.

Defra sources said earlier this week that 940 cattle and pigs had been culled so far in the latest outbreak.

Laboratory results have established the virus found at the latest outbreak to be the same strain as the one in August, which has been connected with the Pirbright laboratory site.