Angry farmers barrack chief vet

Chief vet Jim Scudamore has been greeted with a slow hand clap as he arrived in Cumbria to discuss the foot-and-mouth crisis.

A closed meeting was held in Carlisle between Mr Scudamore, local vets and representatives of the National Farmers Union, leaving a number of irate farmers outside.

The meeting was taking place as the Government reported the highest daily total of foot-and-mouth outbreaks so far.

Three more cases of the disease - all in Cumbria - have been confirmed, bringing Sunday's total to 28 outbreaks.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said the new cases took the overall number to 326.

The latest three outbreaks were a cattle farm at Wigton, a cattle and sheep farm at Penrith and a small sheep and cattle holding at Kirkhampton, Carlisle.

Mr Scudamore was meeting farming leaders to explain the reasons for wanting to slaughter healthy animals to create "firebreaks" around affected farms in an effort to contain the disease.

But David Handley, a dairy farmer who represents Farmers For Action, said he wanted to know how to explain to his members the reasons behind the compulsory slaughter of healthy livestock if he wasn't allowed into the meeting.

He said: "Our members don't count. This just makes me sick to my stomach."