Farmers' Auction Off Due To Ban
UK - Britain's biggest sale of breeding lambs has been cancelled because of restrictions on animal movements.
17 September 2007
1 minute read
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| Police are monitoring footpaths after reports signs were torn down |
Some 30,000 young sheep were due to be sold in the annual two-day auction in Hawes, in the Yorkshire Dales.
The event usually sees £2m exchange hands and is the biggest pay day in the calendar for about 500 local farmers.
But since the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey, livestock cannot be traded or moved unless it is for slaughter.
'Encouraging signal'
The BBC's Richard Wells said farmers would be left desperately short of money.
Hotels, guesthouses and pubs would also suffer, he said.
The movement ban - described by farmers as "heartbreaking" - was put in place across Britain when a case of the disease was discovered in cattle on land in Egham last Wednesday.
