FARMERS in Kent are keeping their fingers crossed after initial results of tests on a suspected new case of foot-and-mouth disease in the north of England were negative.

Final results of the tests involving two sheep at a farm in North Yorkshire will not be known until the end of the week.

Richard Castle, who runs McKays Court Farm in Lower Stoke, near Strood, lost his sheep and cattle last year and feared the same might happen.

He said: "Thank God it was negative. We are half stocked on the farm now and are fattening up the beef cattle we bought in the autumn. It would be a disaster if there was another outbreak and many farms just couldn't survive it."

Robert McClean, of Moat Farm, St Mary's Hoo, lost 1,500 sheep as a result of the welfare disposal scheme. He now has a herd of 700 cattle and has been selling them on successfully for the last few months.

On hearing the news, he said: "Most of the time it is just where they have chewed a thistle or something. There were many false alarms at the height of the outbreak last year so I'm not surprised this one is too."