Mrrzy, imagine the pain and discomfort caused by one mouth ulcer, or a blister on your toe, and multiply it about a million times. It's not a few blisters on the nipples, it's hideous supurating sores in the mouth and around the hoof.A ministry vet examined a calf with F&M recently and it's tongue fell out. Most immature beasts die. Mature ones generally survive but are of no commercial value. Milk yield drops, they don't put on flesh weight efficiently. It's a harsh way to look at it but farming is a business. In the long run it makes more economic sense to slaughter ruthlessly, rather than risk a scenario like Llanfair describes, with every beast in the country, possibly Europe, affected.