DEVASTATED farmer Sid Bowers is planning to throw in the towel after watching his life's work literally go up in smoke.

Mr Bowers was shattered by the discovery of signs of possible foot and mouth disease among the sheep at his Congleton farm.

He immediately called in vets from the Ministry of Agriculture, and was told that his entire stock would be slaughtered on suspicion of having the virus.

A total of 254 animals were killed in just four hours, 207 sheep and lambs, 34 cattle, some due to calve, and 13 pigs and piglets.

A pyre was built to burn the mountain of carcasses, which was set alight two days after the slaughter at Bell Farm, North Rode.

The pre-emptive cull was carried out because the animals were considered at high risk of having foot and mouth disease, which has struck two farms at Astbury.

Blood samples were taken from a number of the animals, the results of which are awaited to establish whether or not they had the virus.

If the results are positive for foot and mouth it would be only the 12th case in Cheshire, which was devastated by the disease in 1967.

A total of 161 lambs, ewes and rams were slaughtered at the end of March at The Willows smallholding in Watery Lane, Astbury.

A week later foot and mouth was confirmed at Oak Farm, Astbury, leading to the cull of 410 sheep and 210 cattle at the farm and land at Alsager, Audley and Ackers Crossing.

Mr Bowers has been a tenant farmer at Bell Farm since 1966, a year before the last outbreak of foot and mouth, when he lost 300 animals to the disease.

"Farming has become very hard work and long hours for no reward," said Mr Bowers, aged 50.

"The slaughter of my animals is the last straw, and although farming has been my life I'm thinking of calling it a day and looking for something else.

"I'm absolutely shattered, and it's a nightmare to watch the slaughter, especially of the animals carrying big calves.

"I'm hoping it's not foot and mouth, although we did the right thing to have them slaughtered."

Mr Bowers noticed blisters on the mouths of some of his sheep on Thursday, and the animals were checked by MAFF vets hours later.

They returned the next morning to look at the cattle, and the checks proved inconclusive.

However it was decided to slaughter the entire stock as a high risk case in view of the blisters evident on the sheep and their very high temperatures.

Bell Farm is five miles from the foot and mouth cases at Astbury, and Mr Bowers was hoping to escape a virus which appears to be being brought under control.

BY IAN ROSS