IT was certainly good news for agriculture after Margaret Beckett's announcement on Tuesday that movement of animals would resume.

If the ban had remained, there would have been severe welfare problems.

The 'blue box' will be lifted on September 14 and the red box on September 24. Yorkshire is classed as a high risk county; cattle and pig movements will be allowed after September 24 and sheep after October 1.

All animals will require a licence; vets have to inspect all stock before movement - DEFRA will pay for this.

Although this is marvellous news for our already hard-pressed industry, there are many problems. All sheep have to be blood-tested, can only be moved once and then again to slaughter, and also have to be tagged and must be tagged with your flock mark preceded by the letter 's' and not have the letters 'UK' on the tag.

Because our county is classed as high risk, only movement within the county is allowed, thus affecting many farmers who would at this time bring stock in from farther afield to finish during the winter months - more cash-flow problems.

It is unlikely there will be any livestock markets before Christmas. We must hope the new year brings better news and better fortune for our industry and that we will have beaten this dreadful disease.

Updated: 09:56 Thursday, September 13, 2001