Unshorn sheep will attract flies and parasites which lay eggs, leading to appalling maggot infestations which eat the sheep alive

Tim Brooks The Country Land and Business Association

Every year hundreds of full-time shearers fly to Britain from New Zealand and Australia.

They travel from farm to farm, shearing up to 300 sheep a day.

But this year some have been told they will be refused work back home if they come into contact with British farm animals

And despite the cull of tens of thousands of animals, farmers fear they may have difficulty getting their sheep sheared.

Tim Brooks, the Country Land and Business Association's regional director for the south-west of England, said: "We have been told that the contract shearers who normally start work in the West Country at this time of year are forbidden to visit farms in the infected areas of the region.

"The consequences will be that unshorn sheep will attract flies and parasites which lay eggs around the rectum and vulva, leading to appalling maggot infestations which eat the sheep alive.

"Unless they can be shorn soon, the animal welfare consequences will be appalling."