After a record 28 cases were found on Sunday, another nine were notified yesterday. In Cumbria Mr Scudamore said the preventive cull of healthy sheep neighbouring infected farms would go ahead. He said a regional group of farmers and stakeholders would be set up to discuss the cull, and owners of pedigree and high quality breeds of highland sheep could write to the ministry to request that their animals be spared. We will not use guns, but we will use machinery. There is a network of farmers and a directory of mobile phone numbers of farmers who are preparing to help each other blockade farms.
Farmers stick together.
The leaders of last September's fuel protests were outside the pub to support farm blockades. The ministry has not kept farmers informed of the situation. We have to watch the news to know whether our animals are to be killed. If a cull of healthy animals is called, we will wait for farmers to invite us in, then we will help them block roads. Peter Allen, an NFU spokesman in Penrith, who farms sheep just outside the killing zone, was one of the few who met Mr Scudamore to negotiate terms of the cull.