A SUCKLEY farmer is urging walkers not to use footpaths across her land despite Government assurances the countryside is open for business.

Jill Hammonds, who has run Pewcroft Farm with husband John for more than 30 years, said that while the public are now quite within their rights to use the footpaths, they may not realise the problems it imposes on farmers.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has told all farmers to keep diaries of comings and goings and to arrange visits in advance. It has also advised them to ensure visitors who walk on more than one farm's land make farms with "susceptible livestock" the last they visit. It has posted the advice on its website.

Mrs Hammonds said: "The foot-and-mouth epidemic is not over, and we're only 40 or 50 miles away from the Brecon Beacons.

"It's not inconceivable that someone who had been walking there recently could come walking over our fields, and they're perfectly within their rights to do so."

Richard Grenville, a spokesman for DEFRA, said: "It does seem to be a double standard but the biggest problem with the spread of the disease is farming-related activity.

"The risk of walkers spreading it is really absolutely minimal. The real danger is from people handling farm animals on one farm and then coming into contact with them on another."

Russell Griffin, regional spokesman for the National Farmers' Union (NFU), said: "The NFU is sympathetic to any farmer who feels that the re-opening of footpaths is at odds with the stringent regulations placed upon farmers as a result of foot-and-mouth.

He added: "Combating foot-and-mouth disease is our main priority, and although we understand that some farmers may feel that reopening paths is not the best way forward, the decision has been taken and we have to live with that as best we can."