THE Elstead farmer whose livelihood has been wiped out at a stroke by foot-and- mouth disease has told how his "whole world was turned upside down" by the dreaded diagnosis. Roger Pride, of Woolfords Farm in Elstead, faced TV cameras and reporters at a press conference organised by the NFU and said: "If we find out what the source is we have someone to blame. It's no fault of ours." The whole rural community has been left frightened and stunned by the crisis that has unfolded and escalated since beef cattle kept by the Pride family on land at Normandy received their death sentence last Friday. There's been controversy and confusion over footpath closures, and shock as a fresh outbreak of the terrible disease was confirmed at Normandy on Tuesday, with 102 more cattle culled. There's also been anger and intrigue over the likelihood that the virus had leaked through carelessness or sabotage from a high-security government research complex at Pirbright where vaccine is produced. By the time The Herald went to press on Wednesday, 199 cattle had reportedly been culled – 64 of them belonging to the Prides. Of these, 38 were from their infected premises at Normandy, four from Woolfords Farm and 22 from another site in Elstead village. All three groups were valued and humanely slaughtered on Saturday and following the cull, one of the cows kept at Elstead tested positive for foot- and-mouth. A second Elstead farmer, Clive Silvester of Thistledown Farm on Milford Road, has also faced the devastation of corpses being sent for incineration, after the culling of 33 further animals on two sites that had possibly been in "dangerous contact". While the Pride family will be compensated for the market value of their cattle, there are cleaning and disinfection costs believed to total around £50,000 to be resolved and the farming business will be closed down for many months. The enterprise now run by Roger and Valerie Pride was started by his parents, Derrick and Sheila, about 50 years ago. Its mainstay is buying in store cattle which are fattened for beef. They finish around 50 cattle a year and the beef is mainly sold through their farm shop in Woolfords Lane, which will also be shut for some time. Roger Pride said the animals are checked every day. "It was when my father Derrick was with the cattle last Thursday that he noticed that some of them were off colour and drooling. "He contacted me and asked me to come and have a look. This I did and it was immediately obvious that something was badly wrong. We contacted our vet straight away and he advised us to inform Defra. "The Defra vet was on the farm within an hour- and-a-half." By this time it was getting dark, but testing started at 6am last Friday and continued until 4pm. "At that time, it was very far from clear that the animals were in fact suffering from FMD," said Roger Pride. But at 7pm Defra Animal Health phoned to confirm their worst fears. "For a moment, we couldn't believe it. We were just completely shocked and devastated. It felt as if our whole world had been turned upside down." Speaking on Tuesday before a Health and Safety Executive inquiry pointed the finger at workers at the complex shared by the Institute for Animal Health and its commercial partner, Merial, Roger Pride said a sewer which overflowed into his Normandy field could be the cause. "Whatever the cause of the outbreak, it is obvious that we have been the victims of circumstances far beyond our control," he said. "Certainly, no-one from this farm has had any contact with the Pirbright facility. "We have always practised the highest standards of bio-security at Woolfords Farm, have been meticulous with our record keeping and no animals have been moved onto or off the farm since early June." He thanked all the Defra Animal Health officials at Reigate and the other officials they had come into contact with "for their compassion, sensitivity and professionalism". "We would also like to thank the very many friends and farm shop customers for the hundreds of messages of support we have received, and indeed the local farming community for all the help that they have provided," he added. He urged all farmers and members of the public to follow the guidance issued by Defra and respect the need for the highest possible level of bio-security. "We sincerely hope that the nightmare we have been living through can be avoided by other farmers and we therefore strongly support all of the measures that have been put in place to stop the spread of this terrible disease." Farmers have been steeling themselves for the effects on their livelihoods of the nationwide ban on meat and dairy product exports. Nationally, animal movements are only allowed under licence, controls are in place on movement of animal carcasses, animal gatherings, shearing and dipping are restricted, and all farms must increase bio-security.  Protection zones of three kilometres radius have been placed around Normandy/Pirbright and Elstead, with a surveillance zone of 10 kilometres around both areas involving Farnham and the majority of Waverley. Throughout these zones, there is an increased level of bio-security on farms, movement controls, controls on transportation of manure and treatment of animal products to ensure destruction of the foot and mouth virus.  Controversially as we went to press, the closure of footpaths and bridleways had only been applied (and belatedly in the view of many) in the Normandy protection zone. Surrey County Council's Trading Standards team has joined police, neighbouring local authorities and the farming community to ensure controls to stop the spread of the disease are maintained.   Teams of officers have been delivering information packs to all livestock keepers within the protection and surveillance zones, and providing advice and guidance to farmers, hauliers and other businesses about the current restrictions.   Members of the public should telephone the Defra helpline on 0845 9335577 or visit http://www.defra.gov.uk">www.defra.gov.uk for further information and advice. Waverley Council has also set up a foot-and-mouth enquiries line on 01483 523556. It will be staffed between 8.45am and 5.15pm on weekdays. The council has posted information on its website, including a list of answers to frequently asked questions which it also gave to the post office and village shop in Elstead over the weekend. Council leader Richard Gates announced that for the time being, street cleaning, grass cutting and grounds maintenance work within the three-kilometre protection zone surrounding Elstead will be suspended. Refuse and recycling collections will also continue, though staff will not pass disinfection barriers or signs indicating that access is closed because of foot and mouth disease.