Farmer moved livestock during ban

A Herefordshire farmer has been ordered to pay £550 in costs for defying a ban on livestock movements put in place because of foot-and-mouth restrictions.

Nigel Bevan, 52, of Coldbrook Farm, St Weonards, was conditionally discharged by Hereford Magistrates after admitting moving cattle and sheep during the ban.

He was spotted by council officials transporting four rams and four cows from one of his farm sites to another.

Bevan said he was concerned about the animals' welfare and had to move them.

The four cows he moved five miles on 14 September were heavily pregnant, the court heard, one of which calved the following day.

Law 'unclear'

It caught milk fever, a potentially-fatal disease, he said.

Bevan added that, at the time, the law on the movement of livestock was unclear.

Restrictions were imposed across parts of the UK after cases of the disease were found in Surrey in August.