IT IS good to see that while things are nothing like normal in the countryside at least we have got back some degree of normality.

Grassland is greener and there are sheep and lambs grazing contentedly where none were in evidence last year due to the foot-and-mouth cull.

Reports abound that there were ten million head slaughtered during foot-and-mouth; nine million of them needlessly.

Now, people are in the process of re-stocking, indeed many people already have.

On this tack, this week saw us attending a herd dispersal sale of pedigree Limousin cattle, in search of a quality young bull.

It is about 15 years since we laid the foundation of our herd of pedigree Limousin cattle with the purchase of 2 full pedigree heifers each with a heifer calf at foot and in-calf again.

We bought them privately from a breeder at Eaglesfield in the south of Scotland.

The only females we have bought over the years were 3 heifer stirks from Robin Holliday, well-known local breeder.

Except for the bulls you could say our herd was basically home-bred.

Incidentally one of the two original foundation cows was 17 years old, still in the herd and was suckling a calf while being in-calf again when they were all shot.

If you are on a good fertile lowland farm you have a fair chance of being safe in the knowledge that when you bring on fresh cattle or sheep they will thrive.

Not so on a high hill farm where imported livestock may not "do".

When you have your own stock, bred on the place the advantage is incalculable.

We have been fortunate in being able to source the right type of cattle locally, but it will be a long, slow process breeding up.

We managed to get the bull we wanted.

It was a good sale of quality cattle so it was good to see the obvious optimism of the large gathering of breeders there.

Incidentally, the bio-secuirty was strict.

If you went into the areas where the cattle were penned you had to wear clean Wellingtons and waterproofs capable of being sprayed with disinfectant.

You were also obliged to sign the visitors' book and include your postcode.

After being given a visitor sticker, complete with a number, and after dipping your wellies in the disinfectant, you were free to enter the penning areas and move around the cattle.

The regulations were being implemented by DEFRA staff.

Also the Land Rover and trailer wheels were hosed down on arrival and the trailer was also pressure washed inside, although this had already been done at home before starting the journey.

Farmers have no difficulty with this strict bio-security, but it has to be said it is a far cry from what happens at points of entry to this country where it would seem people can enter or leave without let or hindrance even when they have come from places where foot-and-mouth is endemic.

Out of the 102 cattle shot by MAFF, after three of their own vets gave it as their opinion that "There is no foot-and-mouth among these cattle," 82 were pedigree Limousin, the other ten were all we had left of the commercial suckler herd.

Somebody at Page Street in London takes the decision about what should be culled after first receiving a telephoned report from someone at Carlisle.

Now those are the two that we want to see and preferably in front of an inquiry.

You never know, we may still manage it.

When you telephone the DVLA they say: "Your call may well be being recorded for your own protection." Do you suppose that may have happened with MAFF, and do you think I may be able to get hold of such a recording.

I won't hold my breath, but you never know.

Dialect word: Scarify meaning to cultivate or scratch the surface of soil.