In my heart I knew at that moment we were in big trouble

Vet Jim Dring

He described how about 100 pigs were huddled together on the ground "miserable, hunched and unresponsive."

Mr Dring was giving evidence in the case against farmer Bobby Waugh.

The farmer faces 16 charges including failing to report a foot-and-mouth outbreak and feeding unprocessed waste to pigs.

Mr Waugh, 56, denies all the charges brought by trading standards officers.

Clammy pigs

The government vet went to the farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, in February last year after the disease was discovered at an Essex abattoir.

When he saw lesions on a pig's trotter, he recalled: "In my heart I knew at that moment we were in big trouble."

Mr Dring told South East Northumberland Magistrates' Court that he had not had much experience of the disease before then.

But when he saw the unresponsive condition of 100 pigs in two pens he said it was "abnormal".

"They were cold and clammy, not healthy and pink," Mr Dring said.

Charges

Mr Waugh, of St Luke's Road, Pallion, Sunderland, denies the charges brought by Northumberland County Council's trading standards department.

He faces five counts of failing to notify officials of a foot-and-mouth outbreak.

He is also charged with four counts of cruelty to animals, one of taking unprocessed catering waste onto premises where pigs were kept, one of feeding unprocessed waste to pigs, four of failing to dispose of animal by-products, and one of failing to record the movement of pigs.

The case continues.