'I want to restock, but I won't feel a wealthy man'

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Committee to investigate foot-and-mouth pay-outs

Farm industry defends million-pound pay-outs

'I want to restock, but I won't feel a wealthy man'

'You wonder if it would be better if your cattle had foot-and-mouth'

Stephen Pollard: Pity the farmers, but don't give them another penny in subsidies

For most British farmers, a bank account holding £700,000 would be proof of rare success. For Michael Wallbank, it represented what he called his "one lifeline after seeing my livelihood destroyed".

The farmer, who had his herd of 449 prime dairy cattle culled six weeks ago, received his compensation payment from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last month.

The payment was from the scheme which provoked anger and vows of parliamentary scrutiny yesterday as it emerged that 37 farmers have received £1m or more from a total bill of around £948m.

But Mr Wallbank, 46, was not a man planning a dream holiday to the Caribbean or flicking through glossy brochures for a new car to be bought from the proceeds of a six-figure windfall.

As he surveyed the empty sheds and milking parlour at Intake Farm near Skipton, North Yorkshire, he said that the pay-out of "around £700,000" was all that was left of 44 years of work by his family. "I fully accept there are going to be people out there who think that sort of money is over the top," he said. "Let me say that in relation to the size of my business, it just about allows me to stand still.

"My parents came to this farm in 1957 and we spent all that time building up the herd." Shortly after they arrived, his father suffered polio, so his wife and three sons had to work the farm. "What we lost will take 20 years to replace and that process cannot even begin until next year.

"The compensation represents a lifeline after seeing my livelihood destroyed and it won't even go all the way to replacing all the animals. I certainly want to restock but I won't feel a wealthy man."

Mr Wallbank, who has three children, has spent about £1.3m over 10 years on buildings to house his herd of Friesians – considered one of the 10 best in Yorkshire

He believes a rush to re-stock among sheep and cattle farmers once the outbreak has finally been quelled is likely to push up prices for breeding animals by 30 per cent, reducing the value of the compensation.

The farm, which before foot-and-mouth had a turnover of around £400,000 a year, employed five full and part-time staff, now has two employees who are helping to disinfect buildings.

Mr Wallbank, whose two farming brothers have also had their stock culled, said: "The other day I heard my teenage son talking to a friend saying 'You don't want to get culled, it's dreadful'. He's absolutely right. If you have worked as hard as we have, with so much invested, for so little return, it does make you wonder if you are right in the head being a farmer."

Payments under the Defra scheme have ranged from a few hundred pounds to the £4.2m estimated to have been paid to the Dumfries and Galloway farmer Jim Goldie for his herd of up to 500 Charolais and Limousin cattle and 530 Texel sheep.

Farmers' representatives insisted that the size of the compensation package reflected only the size of the crisis in the industry and that the average payout was £166,000 each.

Ian Gardiner, deputy director general of the National Farmers Union, said: "We are not talking about foot-and-mouth millionaires. These farmers have received compensation for the loss of their animals and in the vast majority of cases that compensation will be spent on more animals."

Others said they would stay out of the farming business until they could be sure the industry was sustainable.

Michael Armstrong, the chairman of Holstein UK & Ireland breed association and a farmer whose 200 animals were culled, said: "My animals represented 40 years' work. What we, or any other farmer, has received reflects only the size and quality of the business.

"We are likely to stay out of the business until prices of stock are such that we can afford to buy new animals. Let's get one thing straight – farming is not going to come out of this a wealthy industry."