Dairy farmers and butchers in New England seek answers on biosecurity measures to fight foot and mouth disease

While meat could be stockpiled to meet demand for awhile if the disease made it into Australia, dairy production would have to stop immediately and supply lines would quickly run dry.

Peel Valley dairy farmer Wes Brown said he has 800 cows that would all have to be killed if they came into contact with any carrier of the disease.

"And that's a lifetime of breeding. I can't replace that," he told the Leader.

"It's taken us 40 years, and I'm a fifth generation farmer."

He emphasised that the impact of stopping travel to keep the disease out was perfectly reasonable when you consider the fallout of foot and mouth entering the country.

"What it'll cost to do that compared to what it'll [the disease] cost the the economy is a pittance," Mr Brown said.

"If it comes into our herd we're history. We'll have no way of looking after our debt.

"There was a sale last week and they [the cows] average $6000."

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Country Capital Meats owner Greg Townsend said "it's devastating for the dairies because it's a glandular thing and milk is derived from a gland."

"This is going to make COVID look like a schoolboy's picnic," he said.

Mr Townsend said the impact of FMD would stretch throughout a vast supply network.

"What about the flow-on from the outside of the industry," he said.

"Grain won't be worth as much money because feedlots won't be operating to feed livestock

"Meat meal or tallow is exported out out of this country to be manufactured ... Is that going to be allowed to happen?"

Mr Townsend said there is some reassurance for customers as meat could still be available for months if FMD was found in Australia.

"If they stopped processing tomorrow in this country it would take six to eight months to run out of red meat product," he said.

He said processing could continue in some places if the facilities have their own strong biosecurity protocols.

"There are hundreds of billions of dollars worth of livestock that don't have an issue that are clean," Mr Townsend said.

Mr Brown warned if the disease made it to regional areas it would run rampant due to populations of feral animals.

"If it gets into the wild pigs, goats, all that sort of thing then there's no stopping it," he said.

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