Tears of second farmer to lose herd

John Gunner, 60, the second farmer to fall victim, said his herd, numbering more than 100 Charolais and Sussex cows, had all been culled after one group of them exhibited signs of the disease.

"It has just wiped us out," said Mr Gunner, speaking at his home in Wood Street village, near Guildford. "It is our only income. I'm just devastated. I will try and recover but it will be difficult."

Mr Gunner and his wife Joy, tenant farmers who rent 300 acres locally, kept their cattle in three locations near their home.

Forty-eight of the cattle, kept at Willey Green, began exhibiting signs of foot and mouth on Monday, having been given the all-clear the day before.

This herd was in land adjacent to the first herd to be infected.

Defra was called and veterinary experts advised the slaughter of these animals and, as a precaution despite the others not apparently being infected, two of Mr Gunner's other herds, kept at nearby Russell Place and Hook Farm.

Meanwhile, the farmer at the centre of the foot-and-mouth outbreak has said his family are "devastated".

Roger Pride, who runs Woolford's farm near Godalming in Surrey with his wife Valerie, said they were victims of circumstances beyond their control.

In a statement read at a press conference by Anthony Gibson from the National Farmers' Union, Mr Pride described the moment when it was confirmed his animals were infected. He said: "For a moment we couldn't believe it. We were completely shocked and devastated. If felt as if our whole world was turned upside-down."