The initial results of tests on a suspected case of foot-and-mouth at a north Yorkshire farm are negative but final results will not be known for 96 hours, Britian's agriculture ministry said today.
Livestock movements in a five mile radius around a farm at Hawnby near Thirsk, north Yorkshire, have been banned as a precaution after suspect lesions were found in the mouths of two sheep.
Samples were taken from the sheep for urgent testing at the Institute of Animal Health laboratory at Pirbright in Surrey.
If the cases had been confirmed, it would almost certainly have prompted a new cull of livestock in the area just as farmers were re-stocking after the last cull. It could also have led to Britain losing its disease free status within the European Union.
The two suspect sheep were slaughtered as a precaution and livestock movements in a five-mile radius around the suspect farm have been banned by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
PA