THE owner of a tiny smallholding in Richmond is urging the Government to rethink its polices on foot and mouth disease.

Susan Robson owns a handful of sheep which she keeps on a small parcel of land off Quaker Lane.

She's among thousands who have powerlessly watched the virus sweep the country, relying on the goodwill of others to prevent their animals from becoming the next victims.

But Mrs Robson claims it needn't be that way. There is a vaccine to combat foot and mouth - and she says she finds it hard to understand why it is not available in the UK.

"I think we ought to at least have the choice. If the thousands of sheep and cattle you see being destroyed on TV were dogs and cats, there would be a national outcry.

"Why do people seem to believe farmers don't feel the same way about their livestock as owners do about their pets?" she said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture said if Britain were to use the vaccine it would lose its status as a nation free from foot and mouth, and would face an export ban as a result.

"We simply would not be able to sell meat abroad and that would have a massive impact on the industry, which would probably collapse,'' he said. He added that the cost of inoculating millions of animals is also seen as prohibitive.

However, Mrs Robson says that ,even if it is only while the foot and mouth crisis grips the nation, individuals should be allowed to decide if they want to pay for vaccine to prevent the disease from devastating their farms.

"What is worse - paying for the vaccine or the cost to the country of farmers who have gone out of business? I think the Government should be letting us decide," she said