The Orange Order has said that it will be studying events in the foot-and-mouth crisis very closely before making any final decisions on parades planned for the summer.
The marching season officially started yesterday when junior Orangemen held their parade in Larne, Co Antrim.
The season had been due to begin on Monday but an Apprentice Boys' march in Limavady, Co Derry, was cancelled due to the outbreak of new foot-and-mouth cases.
The Orange Order's Armagh county grand master, Mr Denis Watson, yesterday said that the organisation intended to go ahead with its July 12th parades across the North.
But he added: "We will continue to keep the situation under review bearing in mind that a large number of our membership is from the farming and rural community. It is something we will have to consider very care fully."
Around 1,000 people took part in yesterday's parade in Larne. They included members of over 40 lodges from Belfast, Co Antrim, and north Down. Around 30 bands took part.
They marched from Larne town centre to Sandy Bay on the outskirts of the town. The organisers strongly denied they were acting irresponsibly by going ahead with the event despite the foot-and-mouth crisis.
They claimed they were not at risk of spreading the disease because they were parading in a town and the majority of marchers came from urban areas.
Although the marching season officially began yesterday, there are no large, controversial parades until June.
Most of the marches next month will be band parades through mainly Protestant town centres.