Paramount in our minds has been an effort to try and alleviate as much pressure from the farmer as possible

Sgt Lee Nockels

For many farms in the Lake District hit by the disease, it is soldiers such as Sgt Major Lee Nockels who turn up in the wake of the vet's fateful visit.

The Army is lending the Ministry of Agriculture help in organising the logistics of the culling operation. Some soldiers have actually been involved in the slaughter.

Sgt Nockels, of the 1st battalion Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire, has been in the Lake District for the last couple of weeks, in which time he has been ordered onto half a dozen farms.

Isolation has hit farmers badly

"We wait until after the farmer has brought the vet in, and after foot-and-mouth has been diagnosed. We speak to the farmer, and then organise the various areas in which the services can come in and do their work, organising the disinfecting as well. "

"We're just there basically to make sure that there's enough space for what needs to be done.

"But the attitude we've had on the farms has been excellent, every time. Paramount in our minds has been an effort to try and alleviate as much pressure from the farmer as possible," he said.

Sgt Nockels, 32, has been focusing on farms just north of Penrith. His battalion has been concerned solely with the logistics of moving and disposing of livestock, not with their actual slaughter.

"The attitude we've had on the farms has been excellent."

"The majority of people we speak to are extremely worried. If they're not infected, they're just waiting to see if they are going to get away with it.

"Two farmers in particular I've spoken to said that the moment when they had foot-and-mouth diagnosed, they almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's nothing worse for them than sitting there on their farms, waiting for it to come to them. It's strange, but I think they were sort of relieved."