CUMBRIA this week earned the dubious distinction of playing host to the 2,000th case of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain.

The disease was diagnosed in sheep grazing common land on Crosby Ravensworth Fell following blood tests over the Bank Holiday weekend and on Wednesday DEFRA officials moved in to slaughter around 2,500 sheep there.

The sheep, many of them hefted to the common, belonged to several owners in the area, many of whom helped to gather them from the fell before the killing started at five separate sites on Wednesday morning.

They were the last remaining sheep on Crosby Ravensworth, where there had once been more than 4,000.

By 7.10 that evening, all the sheep were gone.

One of the owners was Ann Thackeray, who farms with her family at High Scales farm, Scouts Green, between Shap and Orton.

The Thackerays's 60 Rough Fell sheep slaughtered on the fell were the last remnants of the family's 250-strong flock, all lost at various points as the virus has ravaged the area in recent months.

The loss of the entire flock had been the last straw, said Mrs Thackeray.

She said the family would not now restock the farm as a business.

"We might have a few pets on - you cannot let the land go, but it is the end of the day for us."

Leslie Thackeray, who followed his father and grandfather onto the 100-acre hill farm, is 77 and has lived and worked on the farm for 75 years.

Leslie and Ann's son, Keith, the fourth generation of Thackeray to work the farm, helped DEFRA staff gather the sheep for the cull.

"People just don't know the misery of it," said Ann.

"There seems to be no end to all this killing."

She said she had considered challenging DEFRA's intention to slaughter her stock, but decided it would be costly and ultimately futile to try.

According to DEFRA's own figures, there have now been 125 confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth within the Spur but, with contiguous premises and dangerous contacts, the number of farms in the area which have seen stock slaughtered is at least 472.

There have been 12 new cases of foot-and-mouth so far this week in the Spur.

Meanwhile, the new outbreak in neighbouring Northumberland has reached 20 cases.