A CATTLE auction with a difference was held when 102 cows were sold by video.

The pedigree South Devon heifers were sold off by video at the Three Counties Showground as fears over foot-and-mouth meant the cows could not be moved off farms.

The brainwave was the idea of Douglas Scott, a Three Counties Agricultural Society member, who devised the idea of a virtual sale.

All of the cows were painstakingly filmed on farms so farmers at the sale could get the best idea what they were bidding for.

"This was the first time we have sold pedigree cattle by video, and we believe it is the first time it has been done in the country," said Tom Brooksbank, partner in auctioneers firm Norton and Brooksbank who oversaw the auction.

"The sale had been organised back in January and would have been cancelled if it weren't for the video.

"It was a very well-produced video and people were quite impressed."