Scotland was investigating a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth yesterday after a steer developed symptoms of the contagious disease that devastated Britain's livestock industry last year.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said a five-mile stock movement ban had been put in place around the farm in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, after suspicious lesions were discovered on the animal earlier in the day.
"We won't have any results back until Saturday morning at the earliest," she said, adding that precautions were also being taken at farms which had had contact with the animal.
A national foot-and-mouth epidemic cost Britain eight billion pounds (€12.5 billion) last year, devastated the country's meat and livestock trade and forced Prime Minister Tony Blair to delay a general election.
While Scottish officials are extremely concerned about the possible outbreak, there have been several false alarms since last year's epidemic.