THE scourge of the countryside has moved a step nearer to a part of the region clear of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases.

The North-East's latest confirmed case of the disease is at Toft Hill, on the Teesdale side of Bishop Auckland, bringing the toll in County Durham to 37.

Farmer Graeme Raw became the region's latest victim when 160 cattle and 350 sheep at his farm, Toft Hill Hall, were destroyed.

Father-of-three Mr Raw, 38, who farms with his father, Norman, said the family would normally have been moving into the busiest time of the year, with about 40 lambs already born - and now dead - and 60 or 70 cows in calf.

"It's pretty horrific," he said last night, after a long day spent seeing his animals slaughtered.

Burial of the carcasses will begin today.

"It's the quietness that's going to get me," he said bleakly.

"All I've basically got to do is feed the dog."

Mr Raw spotted the tell-tale signs of the disease in some of his sheep when he was out in the fields on Sunday, and a vet eventually confirmed the worst.

The farmer believes the virus arrived on the wind.

He is a customer of a Barnard Castle veterinary practice, which looks after Teesdale - an area effectively holding its breath while no cases have been confirmed.

He said: "We are the first case the practice has had. Its is getting nearer to Teesdale."