"OF COURSE I eat beef."

Brian Holgate looked a little insulted. In fact, it was probably a foolish question to a man whose family has happily carved a living out of a farming career spanning seven decades.

But it is the question on everybody's lips, and whether or not to eat beef is becoming the issue dominating communities up and down the country.

Like many of his colleagues, Brian believes farmers have borne the brunt of the conflicting but hostile publicity surrounding mad cow disease in the past week.

As the experts have disagreed, public confidence has evaporated.

But Brian's informed view is crystal clear and typical of the hundreds of farmers across East Lancashire whose livelihoods could be under real threat.

"The farming community is worried. It could be the end of farming as we know it," he said.

"They feel they have been sold down the river by the powers- that-be."

Those "powers," seated comfortably at Whitehall and Westminster, have been strongly criticised for their handling of the BSE crisis and their apparent inaction.

Brian, 67, of Blackburn, also accused the tabloid press, who have gleefully jumped on the mad cow bandwagon, of scaring the public into needlessly boycotting beef and is angry at the "hammering" the slaughterhouses have received. But he was more keen to echo some of the views expressed yesterday in the House of Commons which pointed the finger at the relaxation of restrictions under Government deregulation in 1986.

He said the lowering of the minimum temperature at which sheep offal could be cooked was crucial.

The undercooked offal was then processed by the feed merchants who manufactured it for farmers to use as cattle feed.

Subsequently, farmers had little idea what they were buying to feed their cows.

But Brian adds: "The majority of animals that have gone down with BSE are dairy cows.

"A higher percentage of dairy cows are fed the cattle feed than beef cows."

Most of the BSE victims are thought to come from "flying" herds of dairy cows where farmers regularly change their stock by selling and buying at the markets.

"Closed" herds, where farmers breed their own replacements, are thought to be a lower risk.

Brian, although semi-retired, still has more than 30 beef cattle which he keeps on land at Chipping. He is diplomatic about claims of unscrupulous farmers refusing to disclose that cows have come from a BSE herd before they are sold.

None of Brian's cows have suffered from BSE, although he knows many other farmers in East Lancashire who have not been as lucky.

For them the growing uncertainty is worrying, especially as the method of compensation should farmers be ordered to slaughter their herds is unclear.

But Brian would never stop feeding beef to his family, including his seven grand- children.

"My message to people would be to have faith in your local butcher. Good quality, well-cooked beef is totally safe."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.