"It is like living in a police state," according to one farmer living with the logistical and paper nightmare of running one of the 500 farms within the fivemile exclusion zone in north Louth.
While speaking to a group of these farmers yesterday as they waited to meet Department of Agriculture officials at their headquarters beside the exclusion zone, one official was overheard advising a farmer. If he wanted nuts brought from Monaghan onto his farm he needed the registration number of the vehicle; the driver would need a special permit and, if he orders 10 tonnes of nuts, the driver must deliver exactly 10 tonnes.
"It is hectic, hell. The restriction on movement means I cannot sell anything off the farm. We have to get permits to move fodder into a field and we have to come here then to get the permit stamped," said Mr Liam Woods, a sheep farmer in Cooley.
Mr Gerry McArdle is also a dairy farmer in the exclusion zone. "I have lost over 1,000 gallons of milk and there is no word on compensation. We want to be able to move around more freely to feed cattle. We need to know where the slurry goes to, and feed is running low because we can't spread fertiliser on the grass."
Tillage farmers breathed a sigh of relief after yesterday's meeting. They were told that they could plough and sow. It was badly needed news for Mr Alan Bothwell, chairman of the Cooley branch of the IFA.
Before the meeting he said: "We should be sowing spring barley; we have a narrow window of opportunity to get crops sown. If we are not allowed to sow at all, come the harvest we will have no income."
Sheep farmers will have to wait until next Wednesday before they can expect any easing of the restrictions on movement of ewes and lambs.
Mr Anthony McShane is one of the bigger sheep farmers in north Louth and is finding the restrictions "rigid" to live with. "I was here the other day thinking I could move sheep and lambs out of my shed, and 300 yards up the road to a field. I was told no way, there is no movement."
He now has ewes and lambs in the shed that would normally have been moved out to grass to allow other ewes in to lamb.