A farmer who missed the symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease in his cattle is thought to be the most likely reason for the resurgence of the virus in Surrey.

The Times has learnt that 50 cattle culled on Thursday on suspicion of carrying the virus at Stroude Farm, Virginia Water, may have been harbouring the disease for 10 to 14 days.

Unaware of this, Government vets allowed the animal movement ban that was brought in after the August outbreak to be lifted last week and declared the country “disease-free”.

Dealers, agents and hauliers caught up in the livestock crisis and unable to export or transport animals are planning a demonstration outside the Pirbright scientific research centre. They are furious at the lapse in biosecurity at the site that allowed the virus to escape. They are not eligible for compensation for their losses.

Farmers elsewhere in England are angry about the latest lockdown on their farms when Wales and Scotland have approved licences to send animals to slaughter. South Wales is closer to Surrey than Northumber-land.

Debby Reynolds, the Government’s chief vet, is expected to approve similar movements from farm to abattoir this weekend – though only outside the protection and surveillance zones. It may take a few more days before licences are approved to allow farmers to move animals for the next breeding season.

Stroude Farm was confirmed yesterday as the second case in the new wave of the disease. Test results on 800 pigs kept indoors on the farm have not been released yet. Initially there was concern that disease in these pigs might trigger a need for further slaughter on adjacent farms and the use of vaccination to halt further spread. But experts now believe that even if tests show that the pigs were incubating the disease the risk of them releasing virus into the environment in a way that could contaminate other farms is very low.

Old disease lesions were identified on the cattle owned by Ernie Ward, a farmer in his seventies.There was no one available for comment at the Ward home. Mr Ward is known to have followed precautions and was extremely concerned about the disease in the county.

In August, he told his local news-sheet The Villager: “We have about 50 cows and rely on them to earn a living. We are just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that it gets sorted out quickly.

“We are not too far away from the surveillance boundary and are just hoping it is not extended any further in our direction. All we can do is follow the precautions and wait.”

Government vets are still trying to find out how Mr Ward’s cattle became infected with the disease and they are busy monitoring all movements from his farm to see if there are any connections with the August outbreak. The possibility of an illegal animal movement from the surveillance zone in Surrey is being investigated.

Work is also continuing to see if the virus was spread in water from a stream near the Pirbright centre, which feeds into the River Wey. This river is next to fields at Milton Park Farm in nearby Ripley, where cattle were confirmed to have the disease on Wednesday.

The possibility that the virus was spread at the Royal Egham Show over the August Bank Holiday weekend is now considered less plausible.

Gordon Brown had a meeting with farmers at the National Farmers’ Union office in London yesterday to hear the concerns of those caught up in the new outbreak.

The Government is also working hard to restore export trade to the EU from areas outside the controlled zones, but this outbreak must first be brought under control and all disease eradicated.

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