WHEN William and Claire Lambert took a handful of bull calves to Hawes auction mart on Tuesday, it marked the end of the worst year the farming couple have known.

Their farm, Raygill, midway between Bainbridge and Hawes in upper Wensleydale, was the first in North Yorkshire to fall prey to foot-and-mouth disease.

Forty years of breeding lines were lost as their dairy herd and sheep were culled when the disease was confirmed on March 6, 2001.

But, as the grim anniversary looms, Mr and Mrs Lambert's thoughts are turned to the future. They restocked six weeks ago with a dairy herd bought from Staffordshire and have opted to concentrate on that side of the business and not return to sheep farming.

They are once again supplying the Wensleydale creamery at Hawes and their first milk cheque went into the bank on Monday of last week.

"Last spring was an awful time," said Mrs Lambert. "At the time, when it broke, it seemed never-ending. We then saw our neighbours going down with it and it was heartbreaking for everybody in the dale.

"But now, we have our new cows, which have settled in well and are milking extremely well. We are very pleased with the quality."

The re-opening of Hawes mart was also welcomed. "We will be there," pledged Mrs Lambert last week. "We will be selling because we have had some bull calves."

The Lamberts also planned to attend last week's meeting at Hawes Market Hall, when the public were invited to air their views to be fed into the Government's "Lessons Learned" inquiry into the handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

"The crucial lesson is that we don't want a repeat of foot-and-mouth, brought in through foreign meat imports, but the Government still doesn't seem to have clamped down on that," said Mrs Lambert.

She welcomed the support received by dales farmers from Richmond MP William Hague, who paid an informal visit to Raygill at the beginning of February.

"He came to see how we were getting on," said Mrs Lambert. "He had been at Hawes and he called here, on his own, and we chatted round the kitchen table and he tucked into my home-made scones. He shared our concerns about the risks of imported foreign meat."