BRIDESTOWE farmer Piers Brendon watched as Ministry of Agriculture officials supervised the killing of 1000 cattle and 400 sheep at his Great Bidlake farm on the edge of Dartmoor. Another 200 cattle at another farm at Lydford were also slaughtered.

A clearly distressed Mr Brendon spoke to the Times as the first lorryload of carcasses was being taken away for disposal. 'I have had a lot of help from people at the local auction company, KVN Stockdale, and from MAFF officials locally. They have been absolutely marvellous.

'It's very distressing to see all this happen, but time is a great healer.

'There have been a lot of inferences in the media that I have moved animals illegally. No way — that is completely untrue.

'There have been no movements of animals on or off this farm since the restrictions were imposed on February 23.'

Mr Brendon said he had no idea how the disease had got onto his farm. 'Either this virus has a longer incubation period than previously thought, or one of my men brought it in on his boots after visiting another farm.'

The first signs of the disease were spotted last Friday morning. 'One of my staff suspected a cow might be infected, but we could see no signs of ulcers. We called in Ministry officials and by the time they arrived — and it wasn't very long — several more were affected.'

He said the local MAFF officials were very good, but were hampered by a lack of decision-making nationally. 'Decisions that should be made aren't being made quickly enough.'

Mr Brendon added: 'I never want to go through anything like this again.'