Another new case of foot and mouth disease was confirmed at a farm near Silsden late yesterday.

Ministry officials say 236 sheep and 33 cattle have been slaughtered following the discovery of the disease in livestock on land near Smoulden Farm, Low Bradley.

It is the third case of foot and mouth to be confirmed in the Silsden Moor area in a fortnight.

Earlier this week 114 cattle, approximately 665 sheep and lambs and nine goats at Heights Farm, in Heights Lane, were also culled.

Five other contiguous farms were identified because they may have been exposed to infection.

One of the farms had no stock, but on the others an approximate total of 300 cattle and 700 sheep and lambs were culled.

The outbreak neighbours Bridge House Farm, Silsden, where 147 dairy cattle were slaughtered 12 days ago.

Farmer Andrew Baines, from Bridge House Farm, said: "The other case up here is terrible, it's just a question of waiting and hoping that as few people as possible are affected."

Edward Fort, of High Bracken Hill Farm, who lost 188 cattle and 60 sheep in the latest contiguous cull said: "It's really bad, I've been farming up here since 1967 so I remember it the first time around.

"We've been worried for a long time and hoped that we'd escaped it, but it just seems to have jumped across from nowhere. I've still got some stock on a separate block of land, but who knows in another week they might be gone too."

Dorothy Throup, at Moorgate Farm said: "We've lost 395 stock, including 18 cows.

"It's just so terrible, my husband's been up here all his life. We really thought we might have got away with it and we can't understand where it's suddenly come from."

Farmers at nearby non-contiguous farms are getting increasingly anxious.

Norman Fort, of Raikeshead Farm, Silsden, said: "We really are on a knife edge -- we're very close to the affected farms but nothing has showed up yet on our animals.

"They are all monitored and you can't help thinking that every day might be the last.

"The nature of farming is that we've got to plan for the future but it's so uncertain at the moment. On the one hand you feel like there's no hope, but then there's always a slight chance you might be lucky and not get it.

"It's come so close and I couldn't help thinking it was doomed, but just when there's a glimmer of hope -- it starts again and you're right back again where you started from."

Ronald Emmott, of Howden Park Farm, agreed: "We're in a closed area so we can't get rid of any stock. We're just watching and waiting.

"We check the animals every day and there's a vet comes to check them too. But it's serious, it's getting nearer and we're losing a lot of money."

Tim Crocker, of Hayhills Farm, Silsden, is frustrated at the way outbreaks at Settle, 20-miles away, was originally dealt with.

He said: "Of the ten dairy farms near us, five have been culled, most of our neighbours' farms have gone and it's looking really desperate.

"We keep hoping we'll miss it and I think more should have been done to stop it at Settle. We watched it move down the valley -- they should have been ringfencing the farms and culling from the outside in."

The latest outbreaks in Silsden bring the number of confirmed cases in North and West Yorkshire to 113.

National Farmers Union spokesman Rob Simpson said: "At the moment I don't know if the end is in sight. There have been a handful of cases reported on a daily basis for the last two months.

"I hope it is controlled by the end of summer because if it lingers into autumn then the wet and cold weather are perfect for it to thrive."