DAIRY farmer Mr William Lambert thought he had taken every precaution to stop foot and mouth getting on to his farm.

But on Wednesday his worst fears were realised when he was told his 60-cow dairy herd and 150 ewes would all have to be slaughtered.

Raygill House Farm, between Bainbridge and Hawes, became the first farm in North Yorkshire to fall victim to the disease.

But the first thoughts of Mr Lambert and his wife, Claire, were for the rest of Wensleydale.

"We pray to God that the infection has not spread to neighbouring farms," said Mrs Lambert, aged 42, "We alerted the authorities as soon as we saw the first indication.

"We feel the victims here, not the culprits and we just hope that it does not spread."

The couple took over the running of the farm four years ago following the death of Mr Lambert's father and are completely baffled as to how the disease reached them.

For two weeks they had lived as virtual prisoners. The only callers were the daily milk tanker and a feed wagon last Thursday. All followed strict cleaning and disinfectant procedures before entering and leaving.

Post has been left outside the farm gate and the couple have ventured out only to buy essential food supplies in Hawes, two miles away. "We have been imprisoned on the farm," said Mrs Lambert, before the outbreak was confirmed, "We have been extremely vigilant and are absolutely devastated to think we may have a case on the farm."

The couple had worked flat out since taking over the farm and had not taken a holiday for three years.

Mr Lambert, aged 39, is chairman of the upper Wensleydale milk producers group and had built up the dairy herd to virtual pedigree standard.

No cows were bought-in, all replacements were bred on the farm, and the last sheep to arrive on the farm was back in autumn.

Since the first outbreak occurred in Northumberland the farm had imposed strict precautions.

It was on Tuesday when Mr Lambert spotted a cow with cracked teats and blistering. It was also salivating a little more than usual.

He thought he was being paranoid but immediately rang his vet who sent for a Ministry vet who took some samples and imposed a form C order. In that short time three cows were showing symptoms but the vets praised Mr Lambert for his prompt action.

The order means all farms within 3km are under restriction, which includes extra disinfectant precautions and other restrictions.

All farms within 10km have been prohibited from moving livestock under the new licensing scheme. It includes Hawes, Bainbridge and Askrigg.

As investigations began into the outbreak, Mr Lambert could only think that jackdaws might have carried the disease to the farm.

He has recently had problems with them getting inside a new building which had been specifically designed to give good ventilation for the cows inside.

The affected cows were all in an area where the jackdaws have tried to build nests and where Mr Lambert, noted for having a very clean farm, had repeatedly chased them out.

In the foot and mouth outbreak in the 1960s birds came under strong suspicion as carriers of the disease