Cattle are being transported hundreds of miles because no abattoirs in the South-East have been licensed in a scheme to get livestock free of foot-and-mouth disease to slaughterhouses.

The nearest abattoirs beef and dairy farmers in Sussex can use during outbreak are in Essex, Dorset and Northamptonshire.

The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (Maff) introduced the licensing scheme amid fears meat stocks could run low if the nationwide ban on transporting animals continues.

Councils licence farmers whose herds are free of foot-and-mouth disease to take animals to specially-regulated abattoirs.

Sussex farmers are worried because of the foot-and-mouth outbreaks in Essex and Northamptonshire, where two of the abattoirs are sited.

Farmers complaining about the system said they had been directed to Maff's Hastings office, only to be told by staff it handles fishing enquiries.

Sue Crosby-Jones, who is converting a herd of 80 dairy cattle to organic standard at Churchlands Farm, near Pevensey, said: "It is not practical to travel to the Midlands with an animal. Abattoir charges are up, you have to pay transport costs and there is a high risk "If individual farmers from around the country are going to designated sites, you will disinfect as best you can, but I don't think that is 100 per cent."

Michael Fordham, chairman of the National Farmers' Union in East Sussex, said the only Sussex abattoir was on a farm in Heathfield and could not be used because of the risk.

He said: "It just goes to show how limited our facilities are down here and inevitably stock has to travel some way.

"We accept that is what has got to be at the moment."

A Maff spokesman said the system was the best that could be managed while the crisis lasted.