The government is to relax its controversial rules on animal movements imposed after the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Farmers in England and Wales will no longer have to wait three weeks before they can move livestock away from a farm after new animals arrive this Spring.

The number of days where sheep, cattle and goats must be kept on a farm will be reduced from 20 to six from 4 March, said farming minister Lord Whitty.

But the measures will be reviewed in May.

Calculated risk

In return farmers will be expected to tighten up controls to prevent the spread of disease.

The relaxation of restrictions will not apply to pigs and the 20-day rule will remain in place in Scotland.

Lord Whitty said: "We will not hesitate to move back to a 20-day standstill system if the risk of disease increases or if farmers are found to be flouting the six day movement system."

Six million animals were slaughtered

The onset of foot-and-mouth in 2001 led to the slaughter of more than six million animals and is estimated to have cost the UK as much as �4bn.

During the outbreak the only animal movements allowed were for slaughter.

But the relaxation of restrictions will depend on the industry demonstrating its commitment to an effective programme of controls and further work to improve disease detection and biosecurity, he said.

The changes will also depend on farmers, lorry drivers and others observing cleanliness requirements when entering livestock markets.

Farmers had complained the restrictions made it impossible for them to carry out their business.

The National Farmers Union has welcomed the announcement of the relaxation of controls.

Battle to re-build

Tim Bennett, NFU deputy president, said the 20-day restriction had been "a major obstacle in the battle to re-build Britain's livestock industry".

"I hope that this package is the start of a new way of working between government and farmers, one that produces results without the need to resort to regulation based on the lowest common denominator," he said.

There has also been evidence of widespread abuse of the system, with trading standards officers reporting thousands of animals were being moved illegally by farmers and livestock dealers.

It was the rapid unrecorded movement of livestock which caused foot-and-mouth disease to spread out of control.