Farm disease test results due

The results of tests for a suspected case of foot and mouth in the Midlands are expected today, Defra said. A temporary control zone has been set up near Solihull.It is a "precautionary measure" while officials investigate the report. Animal health officials have carried out an assessment of the animals' clinical symptoms and lab tests are under way, Defra said.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the test results for the site just to the south of Birmingham International Airport were expected early today.

She said: "No decisions about whether to alter restrictions can be made until they have been received."

Last night four officers from West Midlands police stood guard at the entrance to a half-mile-long track leading from Catherine-de-Barnes Lane to Woodhouse Farm.

The farm is little more than a mile from the southern perimeter of Birmingham International Airport, which is operating as normal, and the nearby village of Bickenhill.

The temporary control zone was set up yesterday.

It was established hours after chief vet Debby Reynolds urged farmers to undertake twice daily inspections of their cattle in a bid to eradicate foot and mouth.

Dr Reynolds said more than 100 reports of possible cases had been examined and negated.

And 1,700 animals have been slaughtered since the initial outbreak in August infected two farms near the village of Normandy, in Surrey.