Sheep farmer issues dire warning over bluetongue

The owner of one of Kent's biggest sheep farms has given a dire warning about the future of the British livestock industry, and called for the bluetongue control zone to be expanded to cover the whole country.

With restrictions imposed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) it is only possible to move sheep from Kent as far as Essex, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire, meaning that thousands of animals are fast running out of space to graze.

The measures have been introduced in a bid to contain the spread of the insect-borne virus, which affects sheep and, to a lesser extent, cattle.

The number of confirmed bluetongue cases is now 34 and rising.

Frank Languish, who has around 9,500 sheep grazing on Romney Marsh, said there was "very little hope" for British farmers.

He said: "To be honest, we are well and truly buggered. The situation is a lot more severe than many people realise, this is just the start of the crisis.

"When the arbitrary control zones are put in place, it takes a minimum of two years for them to be lifted, but more realistically three.