Restrictions on the movement of livestock in Northern Ireland introduced in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis were being eased today
Farmers will be allowed to apply for licences to move cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, but only between their own various holdings and not farther than 6.2 miles, and only on grounds of welfare.
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Northern Agriculture Minister Ms Brid Rodgers
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Restrictions on the movement of horses is also being eased under moves introduced by the North’s Agriculture Minister Ms Brid Rodgers as part of measures to return some degree of normality to the North.
Northern Ireland has had only a single case of the disease - a sheep at Meigh in South Armagh more than a month ago.
A cull of some 2,500 sheep in the control zone around the affected farm was largely completed today and should open the way for the resumption of meat and dairy exports from the province this week.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture in Belfast said the "vast bulk" of the three-day cull had been completed. Final checks would be carried out across the restriction zone to see no sheep had been missed.
PA