FARMER David Pike was last night trying to come to terms with the loss of more than 200 rare Gloucester old spot pigs, many of them fathered by a boar called Boris.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food moved in yesterday to cull the stock on Mr Pike's farm, which was registered as the first organic farm in County Durham ten years ago.

Along with the 200 pigs, 22 suckler cattle and calves and 70 goats were destroyed at Bowlees Farm, just outside Wolsingham.

They were all healthy, but were slaughtered because of foot-and-mouth at a neighbouring farm.

The carcasses are being transported to a mass burial site at Widdrington, Northumberland.

Mr Pike said his pigs, which were allowed to roam in a wood full of acorns, were one of the rarest breeds in Britain.

He was particularly saddened by the culling of four-year-old Boris, which he described as "the daddy of them all".

"I cannot think of another place in the country where I could go to find a boar like him," he said. Many of the pigs which were culled with Boris, including five-week-old piglets, were his offspring.

Mr Pike said: "I feel absolutely devastated. I can't begin to describe the pain and heartache I feel. I love this place so dearly."

He described how he saved Boris when the boar developed a growth on one its trotters.

"The vet couldn't find what was wrong with him, but I then discovered a large stone in his foot," said Mr Pike.

"I had to hand-feed him for weeks before he fully recovered. I have always thought of him as a very close friend."

Bowlees had been supplying organic meat and goat's milk to customers all over the North for the past ten years.

Mr Pike said: "I can only hope and pray that in some small way the death of my animals will stop this dreadful disease spreading any further."

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