IT'S been one thing after another. 2007 is shaping up to be one of the toughest years to be a farmer for a long time.

Up and down the country, farmers have been suffering at the hands of the weather throughout the spring and summer.

Some farms have been flooded and crops ruined, others are only now able to harvest because of the wet weather.

Now the foot and mouth outbreak has hit them hard when they are already down.

In south Hampshire they are, however, less than 60 miles away from the outbreak of foot and mouth in Surrey, so precautions are being taken very seriously.

Although farming leaders say it is far too early to put a price on how much the disease has cost them, it is already clear livestock farmers will take a financial hit.

Chris Cook runs two farms eight miles apart - one in Twyford and another in Durley. He has a 120-strong herd of beef suckler cows and calves.

He said: "People say farmers are always moaning, but I think everyone recognises it's been a particularly difficult year for farmers.

"Fortunately we haven't been flooded, but we are making silage now that we would have been making in June but couldn't because of the weather.

"It's all got cost implications. Yields of corn and oats are down for us. It was difficult to get spring crops to grow in the very dry period earlier this year, then it was raining non-stop when we were trying to do the haymaking.

"It's hard to say if we will be in profit at the end of the year as we have got so many extra costs."

Chris, who is also the Hampshire National Farmers' Union deputy chairman, said he and other farmers across the county are just coping the best they can but they cannot put a price on how much they are losing as it's too early.

"I have got five groups of cattle on two farms, spread over 300 acres so the bio-security is a nightmare," he said. "We are doing the best we can. Luckily, we don't get many deliveries because we are not a dairy farm. Also, we don't sell cattle until November, but there are plenty of farmers who need to sell cattle every week and have got no cash coming in."

He added: "There is considerable disappointment within the farming community at the irony that it may have come from the Institute for Animal Health or from Merial Animal Health. It's just a big, big worry."

Dairy farmer Neil Butler has 400 cattle on 500 acres of land in Southwick, near Fareham.

He said: "We are having to be very vigilant but it's a wait and see game at the moment. If the movement restrictions go on for a couple of months, I will have too many calves.

"We are having to be very careful with the bio-security as milk is collected from here every day. We are having to make sure the tankers spray their wheels with disinfectant.

"Our biggest concern is that the foot and mouth does not break out of the protection zone in Surrey as it's not that far away from us - we need to be more vigilant in the south than last time."

He, too, is behind on cutting the fields. He added: "Part of the frustration is because it's been such a wet summer. A lot of haymaking has been delayed because of the weather.

"We are cutting grass for silage at the moment, which should have been done by now. They are long days anyway - all this just makes them longer.

"If this goes on for a long time then the movement restrictions will cause real economic problems."