Tom Robinson is a hill farmer in Lancanshire and has a flock of pedigree Swaledale, Dalesbred and Lonk breeding ewes. He wrote to one of the national papers to try and highlight the fact that for many farmers the Foot and Mouth crisis is getting worse, not better. Here is some of his letter;

As a hill farmer who's been living on the edge of foot and mouth disease since the start, our problems are just starting to escalate with the onset of autumn and what would of been our busy sales period.

While we understand the need for movement restrictions, we and others like us are at our wits' end over what to do.

We shall struggle to move any of our animals this year, affecting our farming enterprise for many years to come. Movement restrictions mean that our farm will carry an unsustainable 50 per cent more stock through the winter. This will lead to a major problem in spring when there's scarcely any grass for the animals.

The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 1,971.

[ August 24, 2001: Message edited by: carrie ]