A cattle market is to hold its first auction since the foot and mouth crisis - but without live animals.

The first video sale in the Yorkshire region is being held at Skipton auction mart.

Farmers will view cattle and bulls on a screen in the auction ring at the Gargrave-road based market.

The on-screen sale is part of a number of initiatives at the market which earlier this year launched an internet site to sell animals.

The video sale will take place on Wednesday, November 28.

Many of the animals are on farms where Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) orders prevent the movement of livestock.

Manager of the cattle market Jeremy Eaton said: "The idea is that farmers visit the farms, look at the animals on screen to see if they are suitable, then bid for them at the auction. The auction will take place around the main ring in the traditional way."

Photographs of the animals flashed up on the screen will be taken by auction market staff. And farmers will also be able to see the cattle in a catalogue produced by the market.

Mr Eaton said there was no reason why farmers from other areas could not bid for the animals, having simply seen their specifications in the catalogue.

"This is the first time on screen auctions have taken place in this region - there have been some in Scotland and Derbyshire," he said. "There is no likelihood of live auctions of cattle or sheep for the remainder of this year."

The sale was part of a scheme for the market, which had been planned before the crisis struck.

The ring at the market is already used for agricultural workshops linked to Skipton-based Craven College and equestrian courses. One Keighley sheep farmer, who has faced restrictions, said there had been an imbalance in farming as a result of foot and mouth.

"I'm sure this type of sale will be welcomed by those farmers who have too much livestock, which they are desperate to sell, and by those farmers who have been able to sell directly to slaughter and now need to re-stock," he said.