THEY are in the front line of the worst farming crisis in memory. They work 12-hour days in appalling conditions.
They are MAFF vets — seen each night on television as distant, white figures in a field where animals are herded for slaughter and incineration.
Yet with MAFF receiving a barrage of criticism from farmers and the media, the vets have, by association, received more brickbats than bouquets.
Regional chief vet Ben Bennett said: 'Obviously it's variable, but generally people aren't working less than 12 hours — a lot are working a lot more than that.'
He said the vets would continue to work gruelling hours for as long as it takes to get the disease under control.
'We are making sure they take rest days. In terms of leave, people are being flexible, a lot are deferring their holidays. It's entirely up to the individual, it's just not normal circumstances,' said Mr Bennett.
Vets are finding the emergency situation stressful but welfare and counselling services are available to help and those working on the ground are making use of them if they need to.
Mr Bennett said that, on the whole, vets had been pleasantly surprised at the reaction of farmers when faced with positive diagnosis of the disease.
'On the whole they've been wonderful really,' he said.
'These situations need careful handling. We are aware we are coming to people who are very distraught, but in many situations it's almost a relief because the worry has been so great.
'To a certain extent it means you don't have that constant fear any more, "Will they get it?" That fear is incredibly stressful'.
Mr Bennett said it was difficult to tell if the public realised the strain vets are under but from vets' contact with farmers, he felt most people were 'sympathetic'.
One MAFF vet's wife said she felt it was unfair that the media had tended to ignore them. Criticism of MAFF was often justified, because of administrative and political failings, but, by implication, their vets were tarred with the same brush.
She said: 'They are taking the flak from everybody.
'They have a very tough job — they are trained to save lives yet have to kill. And they often have to deal with farmers' emotions, sometimes tears and at other times, anger.'
She likened the vets' situation to that of soldiers returning home from the trenches of the first world war only to find people had no idea of what they had been through.
'I know that is an exaggeration, but there is a similarity.
'They have been working tremendously long hours surrounded by dead bodies with hailstones pelting down. My husband's hands were raw from disinfectant and the cold.
'They are like doctors, they take their profession very seriously and all this is so hard on them.'