People living near the Border have already found a nickname for the Garda operations to prevent the arrival of foot-and-mouth disease. They are being called "The Rasher Patrols".
Yesterday dozens of so-called "Rasher Checkpoints" were set up along the Border to prevent the importation of animal or animal products and the dreaded pork products, which could bring the disease south of the Border.
While everyone I spoke to yesterday was aware of the seriousness of the disease getting into the Republic, some could not resist poking fun at the authorities.
"If they can't stop whole pigs getting in, they will hardly be able to keep slices of bacon out," one man said as we watched the queue of traffic build up on the main Belfast-Dublin road.
But the patrols were keeping the bacon, the beef and the milk out by carefully checking with lorry and van-drivers what they were carrying and where they were going.
Most cars were being waved through.
As long queues built up on the Northern side of the Border, some decided to seek other routes into the Republic.
So did I and found patrols on five of the seven routes travelled.
However, the main focus of attention was the town of Virginia, Co Cavan, which witnessed a small media invasion, with reporters and photographers seeking the location of a farm where animals had been brought on a lorry which had delivered pigs to the abattoir in England where the disease was first confirmed.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Mr Walsh, had announced that one farm in Co Cavan had been sealed off while investigations were continuing, but no one was telling the media where it was.
By the end of the day the locals were almost denying the existence of the town itself, although one local claimed to know where the farm was, but he would not tell "anyone from Dublin".
Later today the Border patrols will be stepped up by the Army.
The plan, based on Operation Matador, set up in March 1996 to prevent BSE-infected animals being smuggled into the Republic, is expected to remain in place at least along the Border until three pig farms in the North are tested for FMD and cleared of the disease.