THE foot-and-mouth epidemic spread to the borough of Darlington this week with the first confirmed outbreak in the area at Hauxley Farm, Great Stainton.

More than 600 ewes and lambs were slaughtered and taken away from the farm, which is owned by Bill and Mary Hewitson and their son, Richard, on Wednesday.

Mr Richard Hewitson's wife, Linda, told the D&S Times yesterday: "Richard rang the vet on Tuesday because he had a suspect lamb. She came out within two hours and stayed all day checking the sheep. She made the decision that we had the disease and MAFF and the army came in next day, killed all the sheep and took them away."

The family have farmed at Great Stainton for 26 years and say they intend to remain in farming.

Mrs Linda Hewitson said: "We will certainly carry on farming, but we don't know what we are going to do for the next six months. There is compensation but you need that to replace your stock.

"By the time we can start up again it will be getting late for breeding so we could have to actually wait for a year."

She said the farm also had corn and assumed they would be allowed to keep it. "It's such a different tale for people in Weardale and Teesdale," she added. "There they just have sheep and nothing else."

A spokesman at the central office for information confirmed yesterday that 357 cattle and 123 sheep at nearby Viewley Hill farm were awaiting slaughter as part of the culling procedure.

He added that assessments were being made at other farms in the area.

Mr David Maughan, chairman of the regional livestock committee, said it was a tremendous disappointment to hear the epidemic had spread to the area.

He said: "We really thought this area was going to stay clean and we were holding our breath. The disease is difficult to detect in sheep, and the worry is there could be infected sheep in flocks where it has not been spotted. One of the sad parts of all this is it's not just the infected farms that suffer but neighbours as well."

Mr Maughan said the NFU supported the government's policy of culling, but believed alternatives should be investigated for the future.

He added: "After this is all over we have got to step back and take a long hard look at how it has been dealt with. It has literally been carnage."

He said despite government claims that foot-and-mouth had reached its peak, there were concerns that new outbreaks were still being identified in the North-East.

He said: "The government tells us that it's starting to flatten out but it doesn't have that feel in County Durham. On a national basis I suppose it has reached a plateau, but we are still having new cases every day, which is very worrying."

Mr Maughan believed many outbreaks were being caused by the movement of stock and people. He said: "People must remain very thorough and make sure they disinfect and restrict their movement around the country and farms.