Carwyn Jones: early days

Fields at the Llanelwedd farm adjoin the prestigious showground - the shop window for the best in Welsh agriculture which attracts 250,000 visitors each year, and boosts the local economy by �30m.

The busy A470 road - the main thoroughfare between north and south Wales - has been closed around Builth Wells as restrictions are put in place.

Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones said it was too early to say if the annual event in July - the biggest in the agricultural calendar - would have to be called off.

The Aberystwyth Show - the largest one-day agricultural event in Wales, scheduled for 13 June - has already been postponed indefinitely.

A statement on the Royal Welsh Show website on Friday read: "Obviously we shall now have to review our plans for the show in July but before taking any decisions we shall need to explore carefully what alternatives are open to the society.

Considerations

"These could include postponing the event to a later date or staging the show without livestock classes for cattle, sheep, pigs and goats.

"These are matters which we shall be considering and much will depend, of course, on the duration of the outbreak and when it will be finally brought to an end.

Meanwhile, anger is growing in the farming community over the government's planned cull of apparently healthy animals in the latest effort to the disease.

The first animals were killed on Friday morning.

Direct action

It is being reported that up to a million animals could be slaughtered.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said it reluctantly accepted the pre-emptive cull but others are warning of direct action against the measure.

The current total of outbreaks around the UK has risen to 261.

But experts have said they are hopeful of getting a better picture soon of how far the disease has spread in Wales.

It is now three weeks since restrictions were imposed on the movement of livestock - a period which is thought to be the maximum incubation period of the virus.

Carwyn Jones has insisted that a livestock market - implicated by the Maff - should not be blamed for the spread of foot-and-mouth.

On Thursday, he insisted that Welshpool Livestock Auctions - the Powys market which it was claimed was at the centre of the mid Wales outbreak - had been "victims of misfortune".

"The passage of the disease through the market was not a reflection on them but was simply bad luck," he said.

His comments came after the assembly ordered that all animals which spent time at the mart after 19 February - and all animals which came into contact with them - are to be culled.

Following talks with UK Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, Mr Jones confirmed that there would be "compensation for the full value of any animal compulsorily slaughtered under these arrangements".

But Farmers' Union of Wales President Bob Parry said he wanted to see scientific justification for killing healthy animals, to ensure it was not being done for political reasons.

Meanwhile, up to ten schools in Powys were closed as of Friday to prevent any risk of farmers' children spreading the the infection.

The NFU has set up a new dedicated helpline to answer queries on foot-and-mouth: 08000 646363.