Animal feeds resume at farm after sickness concern

Animal feeds for the public will resume from Saturday

A farm attraction has said it will let members of the public feed animals once again after visitors previously fell sick.

Baylham House Farm near Ipswich closed in April for six weeks after four reports of visitors catching cryptosporidium and E. coli.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) previously attended the farm to investigate the incident and are yet to publish a full report.

Kate Ockelton, farm manager, said they would be creating a new animal contact zone to resume animal feeding from Saturday.

Farm manager Kate Ockelton said they were encouraging visitors to wash their hands

"Within our new contact zone there will be goats, sheep and Highland cows which can be fed on a flat hand," she said.

"Our animals are very excited about as they have missed their extra snacks."

The UKHSA allowed the farm to reopen in May but ensured the farm had installed more hand washing stations.

Visitors were given a full brief of this and encouraged to wash their hands.

Ms Ockelton previously said the farm had "never had anything like this before and had no clinical signs with our animals at all".

She said the outbreak had been unexpected.

According to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) E. coli can "cause illness ranging from mild diarrhoea to life threatening conditions".

It is most common in children aged between one and five, but often people who handled infected livestock can be at risk.

There is no specific treatment for the infections, according to the UKHSA, which has been approached for comment.