PEDIGREE cattle should be saved from slaughter unless they have foot-and-mouth disease, a cattle society says.

Hereford Cattle Society says that herds should not be included in the cull to contain the outbreak.

One herd of pedigree Hereford cattle has already been slaughtered despite not being infected.

The call comes just a day after the Ministry of Agriculture announced it would be slaughtering more than 100 pedigree dairy cattle kept at Hindlip College, near Worcester, because it is next to an infected farm.

The 100 Holstein-Friesian cattle had been kept indoors since the end of February and the college has been closed.

Hindlip, which is part of the Pershore Group of Colleges, had hoped that the cattle would be spared.

David Prothero, of the Hereford Cattle Society, says there are more than 400 Hereford herds in the country.

"One north of Hereford has a history on record going back to 1778," said Mr Prothero, breed society secretary.

"There's another herd not many miles away, which has been under the same family name since 1822.

"And there's a herd near Ledbury that was founded in 1906.

"These herds have got paper ancestry going back 200 years.

"If such a herd was to contract foot-and-mouth or come under an order to cull you could never replace it. Another herd couldn't contain the same bloodlines and ancestry."

The Hereford Cattle Society says it is against any cull of pedigree herds.

"It's our concern and we worry all the time," added Mr Prothero.

"It's a rarity within any breed to have this sort of history."

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has called for the Government to safeguard the bloodlines of rare and ancient breeds of sheep, cattle and pigs.

But it has reaffirmed its support for the slaughter policy and has urged that more resources should be committed to defeating foot-and-mouth.

Animals

to be

buried

today

CARCASES of sheep, cattle and pigs were due to be buried at Throckmorton airfield, near Pershore, today.

The trench, next to the runway, will hold livestock slaughtered as a precaution against foot-and-mouth disease.

They will not be from infected farms.

Cattle aged over five years old will be burned at the site, which is beside the landfill and near Throckmorton.

Lorries containing hundreds of dead animals are already on standby at the site to begin filling in the trench.

"We had a team continue with the digging at 6am this morning," said Capt George Griffin, of the Green Howards Infantry Regiment.

"We should be able to start burying this afternoon.

"We're eager to get the carcases off the farms so the lorries have already brought them here.

"As soon as the trench is ready they bury the animals, get cleaned, resealed and go off to the next farm."

Three more

confirmed

THREE more farms across Herefordshire and Worcestershire have been confirmed with foot-and-mouth.

At Mitton Lodge, Bredon Road, near Tewkesbury, 2,500 sheep were found to be infected on Tuesday.

Yesterday, 350 sheep at The Vallets, Whitfield, Wormbridge, near Hereford, were confirmed to have the disease.

A further 3,500 sheep and 600 cattle at Pentre Farm, Bredwardine, near Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire, were also diseased.