MORE than 5,500 animals have been slaughtered after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth at Arncliffe Farms, Ingleby Cross, on Saturday.

A total of more than 4,000 animals on the estate belonging to Lord and Lady Bell of Arncliffe Hall were slaughtered as well as livestock on 13 surrounding farms.

Mr Gordon Chapman, of Springfield Farm, Ingleby Arncliffe, was among those to lose his 200 dairy cattle and calves in the contiguous cull.

He explained that Arncliffe Estates covered an area from Osmotherley to East Rounton with a lot of farms surrounding it, many of which had been taken out in a bid to stop the spread of disease.

He said: "I've milked them every morning and night since leaving school and I have two children here that might have been the next generation."

Mr Chapman said he was left for two days with blood on his shed walls before the ministry sent a team to clean up.

His 198-strong dairy herd was slaughtered on Tuesday after officials designated Springfield Farm a dangerous contact to the foot-and-mouth outbreak on Arncliffe Estate.

A clean-up team was supposed to arrive the next day but despite several calls, Mr Chapman was left in the dark. He remained trapped on the farm with strict instructions to let no-one on or off until 24 hours after the premises had been cleaned and disinfected.

"There is dried blood all over the place," he said. "The men who came broke a door off the wall and smashed a water trough during the culling and we can't start repairs until the cleaning is done.

"We have a tank full of milk from Tuesday morning and we can't empty that out until the assessor has valued it."

A government spokesman said a cleansing and disinfecting team was scheduled to arrive at Springfield yesterday afternoon. She added: "They are working flat out and this sort of time lapse is not unusual."

Mrs Winifred Laking, of Baulk Bridge Farm, Ingleby Arncliffe, said the farm had been in her husband's family for generations, but their 40 cattle had to be slaughtered in the contiguous cull.

She said: "They haven't got it under control. It's on-going and it's spreading."

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said a further outbreak at Thornflat Farm, East Harlsey, came about through contact with the Arncliffe Estate livestock. About 760 sheep were slaughtered at the farm on Monday night.

The farm belongs to Mrs Shirley Kirk's family. She said: "The family has been at the farm since 1925, it's the third generation of farmers and they've always been proud of the sheep."

The ministry was also investigating the cause of an outbreak at Harlsey Castle, West Harlsey, on Tuesday and confirmed a case at Greenacres, High Worsall, on Saturday.