Hard-up cattle traders are turning to the internet to help revive sales hit by foot and mouth.

Buyers from the Wharfedale Farmers' Auction Mart, based in Otley, are having to rely on descriptions given by farmers over the phone because of movement restrictions in areas hit by the disease.

Ernest Sherwin, company secretary at the Mart, said he believed the internet sales would become more prominent after the crisis ended and the number of farmers thinned out.

Initiatives are desperately needed by the company as live auctions are not expected to resume until September at the earliest.

Mr Sherwin said: "We have had a meeting today and one of the things we discussed was alternative ways to trade animals. Obviously the internet is one of those options.

"At the moment some of our smaller customers are not able to afford all the computer equipment needed to use the internet.

"But after the crisis is over I think some of the smaller farmers will have been forced out of business and the larger, richer, ones will be left which is when it will be used more.

"At the moment we are buying stock which we can't see because we don't want to move about among farms and spread the disease We are having to buy it over the phone and going on farmers' descriptions which can be difficult."

The process is under way in Skipton where the Craven Cattle Mart has set up an internet database for buyers and sellers.

Auctioneer John Hanson said: "We had it running for several weeks before the Settle outbreak and it was very handy to have the service ready once foot and mouth came to the area. We used to have three or four auctions a week but all those have stopped.

"There are thousands of animals on the database and it has been very useful in helping buyers and sellers, though it is too early to say how much money it is making."

Richard Sutcliffe, owner of Bobby Green Farm in Queens-bury, the site of the first foot-and-mouth outbreak in Bradford, said the internet was of no use to people in his position.

He said: "I've got no computer so it's no use to me but I can see how it can be useful for a farmer who has all the equipment."

John Gullett, West Ridings representative for the National Farmers' Union, said: "Along with video conferencing, I think the internet will become more common as a way to trade livestock. We can't go to any live auctions at the moment because of the foot and mouth restrictions and these could some of the ways to help keep trade going."

Auctions were banned at the start of the foot and mouth outbreak prevent large number of farmers gathering and possibly spreading the disease.

You can take part in live internet auctions on this website. Surf to www.thisisbradford.co.uk and look for the links to FSAuctions.