A HEREFORDSHIRE farmer who watched his livestock slaughtered after a foot-and-mouth outbreak is thinking about quitting Britain.

Devastated Kevin Feakins yesterday saw the last of his 270 cattle and 650 sheep slaughtered and burned following the discovery of the disease.

He says he is unable to even think about farming for at least six months due to the contamination of the farm.

"I'll have to go out and look for a job," said Mr Feakins, a second generation farmer who has been in the business for 30 years.

"What else can you do. We can't just sit at home doing nothing for six months.

"It's very distressing to see all the lambs that you've reared slaughtered.

"You look after your animals for 12 months or more, just to see your livestock come to this, it's all been for nothing.

"It's very stressful and traumatic, but we've got to get through this.

"We're up to our necks in paperwork at the moment. Every cow needs a form filling out.

"It's too soon to think about the future, but if I was to go back into farming I'd think about doing it abroad."

Fighting back tears, Mr Feakins, of Llancloudy, near Ross-on-Wye, said he was not hopeful of receiving Government help.

"I think we can hope for compensation but I don't think it will come," he said.

"I've been in farming for 30 years, it's all I know. My father was a farmer before me."

He says the Government must now concentrate on rebuilding the industry.

"We've been very lax in looking after an industry which is one of the best in the world," he said.

"We'll end up having to bring products in from around the world and we won't know how it's produced, their animal welfare or what chemicals they've put in it.

"It just goes on and on. Rules restrict us, there's a lot of politics involved and we've been pushed from pillar to post.

"We were once proud to produce our animals. Now this has all been turned upside down.

"More farms are going to go what I've been through."

A farm less than two miles from Mr Feakins' has also been confirmed as being contaminated.

The beef and sheep farm is in the Llangarron parish.

At least 200 cattle and 1,000 sheep will today have to be slaughtered in a desperate bid to stop the disease spreading.