The latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could cause more damage than that of 2001 because the national ban on the movement of animals comes during the main trading period for cattle and sheep.

In addition, animals that have been born and reared on the uplands – in the Lake District, Scotland and the Welsh hills – are ready to move to the lowlands for the winter. Grazing pasture will be thin and animals need to be moved where they can be fed during winter. Cattle need to be moved into sheds.

The next few weeks are the busiest for the £1.1 billion-a-year livestock auctions as sheep and cattle are bought and sold and move to lowlands. It is also the crucial time for selling breeding ewes and rams.

Europe’s biggest ram sale – with 7,500 rams up for auction – was to have taken place at the Royal Welsh showground in Builth Wells on September 24. It will almost certainly be cancelled. This is the period, too, when calves are weaned from their mothers, ready to be sold on for fattening.

After Britain was declared free of foot-and-mouth last Saturday, farmers were expecting to offset their losses by a renewal of trade. Farmers were affected by flooding this year and the high prices of animal feed caused by the world shortage of grain. Now they are at a standstill again. Worse, many are worried about how they will pay for feed for animals trapped in the hills and how to get it to them.

The trade ban will cost the country £1.8 million a day. The losses are already expected to run to between £50 million to £80 million. The cattle industry is worth some £1.6 billion to farmers and £5.4 billion in retail sales of meat, while the sheep industry is worth £700 million to farmers and £1.8 billion at retail, the Meat and Livestock Commission said.

Pigs are not traded at market but will also be affected by the movement ban. In particular they have lost lucrative markets in China. The pig industry is worth £1.3 billion to farmers, but at retail levels pork sales are worth £6.5 billion and bacon £1.9 billion.

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