Some of the 193,000 full-time farmers and farm owners in Britain say they may well go out of business, mainly those who have spent generations building up pedigree herds that could be wiped out.

The combination of clear, fragrant Alpine air, pedigree herds of cows, fresh milk and cheese-making skills handed down through the generations give the cheese its true taste and character.

The government has pledged to take into account the pleas of owners of particularly prized pedigree herds or special flocks like the Herdwicks.

A pedigree herd of alpacas, the Lost City Alpacas, is kept at the village.

In the 1880s it was the residence of Colonel Walter George Stirling, a Baronet who had a pedigree herd of Jersey cattle.

There was a chap there who'd made a real effort to get a pedigree herd of shorthorns together.

By today's standards the farm is quite diverse, but 40 years ago the Estate was well known for its pedigree herds and flocks, fruit farm, poultry and flowers.

Then it flapped its wings, once, with a sound like the damp hides of a pedigree herd being slapped across a cliff.

The Guernsey and Jersey dairies have a monopoly on milk supplies on their islands, and both distribute a range of full fat, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk from the local pedigree herds.

My next call was to have been to Terence Bailey's pedigree herd of dairy short horns - two hundred peerless cows, a strain built up over generations.