THE region's livestock marts have been busily rearranging sales this week after the announcement that they could operate again as from yesterday.

Hawes mart will hold its two-day sale of 33,000 gimmer lambs - Britain's biggest - on October 15 and 16. The sale, which generates almost £2m and gives about 500 local farmers their biggest pay day of the year, had to be postponed last month owing to foot-and-mouth disease restrictions.

Andrew Pratt, a mart director, said the reopening of marts outside the high risk area in the South-East was good news.

"In the farming community, especially, people have been very downcast and depressed," said Mr Pratt. "In the office, we have sometimes been more like the Samaritans; people have been very down, so this news is a boost for everybody's morale."

Mr Pratt said south country buyers, who bought many of the lambs, had stood by the mart. "They are all waiting to buy from us so we are hoping the prices will be good," he said.

Stephen Walker, auctioneer at Leyburn mart, expects to sell 4-5,000,000 Mule and Masham gimmer lambs and Blue-faced Leicester sheep on Thursday.

He said: "It is good to have something positive, and to be able to plan; now we are waiting to see what trade will be like," but he said the delayed sales would still have a knock-on effect, with the delay in tupping leading to later lambing.

David Hugill, chairman of the North Riding and Durham County National Farmers' Union, said the return of the marts was fantastic news.

"Hawes mart had made the point that it was very difficult to move such large numbers of lambs farm to farm. Moving them through a mart is obviously the best way for everybody," he said.

He was, however, worried about how buyers in the high risk foot-and-mouth area would cope with not being able to take stock into that area, and hoped there would be a way round it. "A lot of gimmer lambs go down to the south and they will have to do a lot of re-jigging with grazing," he said.

Helen Goodman, MP for Bishop Auckland, said she had pressed Lord Rooker, Food and Farming Minister, on the needs of hill farmers and said: "They have been one of his top priorities. He understands their position and is well aware of their cashflow problems."

Peter Morris, chief executive of the National Sheep Association, pledged to continue pushing for more relaxations to help the industry get back to normal. Buyers needed confidence to buy the breeding and store sheep that need to be sold and much of that could be generated only through receiving better prices for lambs entering the food chain.

Angus Collingwood-Cam-eron, North-East director of the Country Land and Business Association, echoed that concern. "With all that's gone on, and other existing restrictions such as the 20-day standstill rule, the market is going to be hampered," he said. "While this is an important move on the road back to normality, there is still a long way to go before livestock businesses can be confident of viability."

The return of livestock marts is only in the low risk foot-and-mouth areas, subject to there being no change in the disease situation. Stringent biosecurity measures will be imposed.

Tim Farron, Lib Dem MP and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on hill farming, urged the Government to introduce a welfare scheme to help farmers secure a fair price for their livestock.