farmer's wife Jeanne Hutton

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TAKING STOCK OF THE

09:00 – 08 December 2001

Farmer's wife and occasional poet Jeanne Hutton felt compelled to write about the hardships and hopelessness experienced by friends and relatives during the foot and mouth epidemic. She tells GLORIA SCHOFIELD about the book describing those terrible months which she has written and daughter Emma has illustrated

WHEN the dread news of a foot and mouth outbreak was announced in February, farmer's wife Jeanne Hutton, like so many people, felt a shiver run down her spine.WHEN the dread news of a foot and mouth outbreak was announced in February, farmer's wife Jeanne Hutton, like so many people, felt a shiver run down her spine.

How bad would it be? Would their farm, or the farms of any of their friends and relatives, be affected?

She was soon to find out.

"It quickly became obvious that it was going to be very, very bad," said Jeanne, who lives at New Manor Farm, near Frome in Somerset with her husband Keith and son Ben. "We had spent ten years, up to 1986, farming near Hatherleigh in Devon, and we still knew many people there."

Hatherleigh was one of the areas worst affected by foot and mouth, and soon Jeanne and Keith were hearing story after story of loss and misery.

"It was something my nephew's partner said which struck me in particular, and which led me to start writing the book," said Jeanne.

"All their stock had been culled, and she was telling me about the strange behaviour of their collies.

"They had to be tied up all day, of course, which they weren't used to. Then, on their evening walk they would scurry up to every barn and shed, and stop dead in their tracks when they realised there were no animals there.

"They would come back to life and rush to the next barn, and the same thing would happen, night after night.

"She added that the dogs were driving the cats wild. They were suddenly so frustrated and confused and unhappy that they were tormenting the cats for something to do.

"I just felt I had to write something about these poor dogs – and cats! And then all these other stories and thoughts began to flood in, and I began to write them down."

Jeanne wrote her series of poems and prose over several months, sitting in a corner of the kitchen.

"My daughter Emma felt the same sort of compulsion to record what was happening, and she began sketching illustrations to the words. She's not a trained artist, and I've had just one poem published before, in an anthology. But everyone was very encouraging and we kept going."

Jeanne and Keith, who own a dairy farm, escaped foot and mouth, though they were wracked with worry for months. But the family has not escaped the consequences of the pummelling the agricultural industry has taken in recent years.

Keith has had to leave farming, at least temporarily, because of extreme stress. One of his twin sons, Nick, has left farming for good and is working in geology. The other twin, Ben, works all hours to keep the farm going.

In the book, called Taking Stock, Jeanne describes the effects of the foot and mouth disaster from many perspectives. As she says in the foreword: "This unprecedented crisis in British farming has permeated every area of society."

One poem tells of a farmer who lost all his 200 Friesian dairy cows. He coped with the cull, the sight, the smell of the bodies, and the awful silence:

"But when I saw my Mrs buying that carton of milk, 'Full Cream Pasteurised Vacuum Packed' – I cracked."

Another was inspired by the work of the Samaritans and includes the line: "They say that foot and mouth's not fatal... but it's been the death of him."

B & B owners will recognise the sadness behind a poem which begins: "I should be cooking eggs and bacon, (not the books!); putting out the welcome mat, recommending routes..."

There is also a tribute to those who manned the local MAFF phones – "Taking the flak for the faceless ones."

Taking Stock, by Jeanne Hutton and Emma Bruce, has been published with the help of sponsorship from Bibby Agriculture and K W Alternative Feeds. The book is dedicated to "Recovery – in all its forms", and Jeanne and Emma will be at Crealy Park, near Exeter, on Sunday to officially launch it.

The book costs £5.99 (plus 50p p &p) and with each sale 50p will go to the ARC-Addington Fund. Write to New Manor Farm, Witham Friary, nr Frome, or ring 01749 850761