About 500 cattle were slaughtered in Cheshire over the weekend following two confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth.
Officials said it was too early to determine the cause of the latest outbreaks - the first in Cheshire since April 10th - and no links have yet been established with there cases outside the county.
The disease was first confirmed on Sunday at Fir Tree Farm at Crowley near Northwich where 210 cattle were slaughtered.
Foot-and-mouth was found yesterday at Crowley Hall, High Legh, near Knutsford, following a routine check of bordering premises leading to the slaughter of around 300 cattle.
A "relatively small number of sheep" were also killed although it is not yet clear whether they showed signs of the disease.
The weekend's developments will be seen as a blow for the county coming only days after the county council on the advice of agriculture officials reopened 90 per cent of Cheshire's 7,000 footpaths and rights of way.
A county council spokesman said: "This is an extremely bad day for Cheshire and brings back dark memories of 1967 when it was thought that the outbreak was over but only for this terrible disease to return about two months later."
PA