A MARY Tavy farmer is fighting a desperate battle against the weather to keep his flock of sheep and their newborn lambs alive.
Fred Penwill, of Cholwell Farm, has more than 500 sheep lambing in what was once a green a field, but is now feet deep in mud.
He has been unable to move them, because, although Cholwell is uninfected, it is in an infected area and subject to the whole gamut of MAFF restrictions.
'We are living with them full-time at the moment,' said Mr Penwill. 'As the ewes lamb we are putting them in the house to get them dry and warm before putting them out again in the mud, but it's getting very crowded.
'It's the weather that's the problem, and food is fast running out — and I don't think there's much available anywhere.'
MAFF has only just placed a D notice, which halts any movement of animals, on Cholwell, but Mr Penwill said he had been appealing to MAFF for a license to move them to a better pasture nearby for the past three weeks.
Mr Penwill even called in the RSPCA to try and help. Spokeswoman Janet Kipling said: 'It's horrendous, all of our hearts go out to him. He has done everything physically possible. He has been applying to move them for more than three weeks now. He just needs MAFF to allow him to slaughter them, which he doesn't want to do, or to allow him to move them. He has a beautiful green pasture just over the hill, but he just can't get them there.'
The RSPCA has provided Mr Penwill with 50 plastic coats and he has bought a further 100 to help keep his newborn lambs dry and warm, although animals are still dying. The RSPCA is currently chasing MAFF to speed up their procedures.
MAFF spokeswoman Nadia Nuaimi said that under the D notice, no animals could be moved, even though MAFF was fully aware of the animal welfare concerns.
She added that junior agriculture minister Joyce Quin had this week stated MAFF was reviewing parts of the policy to take account of situations such as this, but there was nothing they could do until policy was changed.