DAVID Maughan would usually be looking ahead to the selling season.

But all he can do is hope the foot-and-mouth outbreak is contained.

"We're all very nervous at the moment. We fear the worst, because it's such a virulent outbreak and it could be rampant by this time next week," who farms at Morton Tinmouth, near Darlington.

"The cattle market had started to slowly recover in the last year, following the BSE crisis, but this might knock us yet again.

"We're about to start selling cattle, and, if they do impose movement restrictions, then they will have nowhere to go. Cattle prices have held out, but they are starting to fall.

"It brings the 1967 outbreak back again. I can remember the funeral pyres on TV, and having to put disinfectant baths in.

"What happens in the next week will be crucial. This time last week we had no idea this was around the corner.