MRS DOWN'S DIARY

And this time I do not think the powers that be can blame anyone other than themselves. Whether they will be held to account for the disruption in trade, the cost of disinfectants, loss of income etc. is another thing.

Meanwhile we hold our breath that it will not spread any further than the seclusion area around the outbreak.

The Government seemed to have acted fairly swiftly this time and banned all animal movements which apparently spread the disease further last time, but we have absolutely no guidance as to what precautions we should take, or even that there has been an outbreak of foot and mouth, from any official body.

I heard on the radio this morning that two farmers are to be prosecuted for moving livestock over the weekend, but it is entirely possible that they they had not heard about the crisis.

John only knows because I told him from watching the news on the television and hearing the radio. He has not seen any television or listened to the radio for nearly a week now as he has been so busy with harvest, drying corn and sorting out the sheep who have developed rather maggoty bottoms from eating the lush grass grown after the many downpours.

I keep him updated but a farmer working alone, and many do, without the 24 hour television/broadband/news culture of the majority of the urban population, might quite feasibly not b up-to-date on the appropriate response.

In fact on the news it said quite a few farmers turned up to market on Monday only to find them closed down. Maybe they are the ones being prosecuted.

We expected to take in eighteen fat lambs on Monday, but they are contentedly munching away in the field still, totally unaware of their lucky reprieve. Whether we are supposed to apply for a license to move them directly to the abattoir as we did in the last outbreak is unclear.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette August 15