Prudent? Or over the top? This week's livestock entries at the 150th Great Yorkshire Show were one-third down on recent years, and next week's Driffield Show looks likely to report a similar situation. That's mostly down to a thin blue line and a thick black line on a map.

Bluetongue disease, the cause of the lines, is spread by midges and has never been recorded on any Yorkshire farm. Whether this is down to effective control by Defra in imposing "zones" or simply the fact that midges don't read maps and are inclined to fly off wherever they wish, and just haven't ventured further north than East Anglia as
yet is unclear.

However, such has been the concern within an industry that has suffered more than its fair share of anguish over diseases in the past two decades that zones identified as "Surveillance" have largely been accepted, as has the need for a vaccine which is now making its way across the UK and is the reason for zones being retitled as "Protection" once vaccine has been made available.

It's a case of damned if you do or damned if you don't so far as Defra has been concerned. But having fared so badly over foot and mouth controls in 2001, there is an extra degree of caution this time. None of this really helps those who organise agricultural shows, particularly those on the cusp of zones, such as Harrogate and Driffield.

The important thing to understand if you saw fewer cattle and sheep at Harrogate this week and also see fewer than you are used to at Driffield next Wednesday is that it won't be because farming is going through a bad time. Many sectors have recently performed better than they have for many years – sheep and cattle amongst them. The problem for Harrogate was that the Surveillance zone runs from the River Tees to the Pennines and then on a diagonal line right down to south east Wales. What this means is that anyone to the north and west of this thick black line cannot compete with their livestock at agricultural shows in the area below that.

While that is not so much of a problem for Driffield, it has been hell for Harrogate this week, wiping out a huge section of entries that would have come from Scotland, Northumberland, Cumbria, Lancashire and even parts of North Yorkshire.

The problem is further exacerbated by a thin blue line, which has been moving further north over the past six weeks, and which determines the area in which vaccine is available to protect stock. It has provided a pincer movement on Harrogate's entries.

This is the Protection Zone, and affected the Great Yorkshire even more since those within a protection zone could not move stock into the surveillance zone. Up until two weeks ago the thin blue line was 60 miles further south, but it was moved on Monday of this week and now sits just north and west of Driffield.

In Driffield Show's case it couldn't have come at a worse time. The thin blue line has caused havoc. Livestock competitors have been on tenterhooks for weeks over when the line would be moved and now that it has it effectively means that most North Yorkshire-based entrants, of which there are many, cannot compete this year as they are no longer in the same zone as Kellythorpe Showground, the venue for Driffield Show.

The frustration is that the Protection zone is likely to be extended to the rest of North Yorkshire in the coming weeks, but too late for this year. Fortunately, this is unlikely to have a detrimental effect on both farmers and the general public attending the East Riding's biggest agricultural showpiece, which is held in high regard as the county's largest one-day countryside show and whose farm machinery stands are as prominent and plentiful as any show in the summer.

And the organisers are confident there will be a strong show of cattle and sheep nonetheless. Richard Jackson, who farms with his father, Edward, on their 456- acre Northdale Farm, Grindale, near Bridlington who has just taken on the role of livestock secretary for the Driffield Agricultural Society, admits he could have done with an easier start to his tenure.

"I'm only learning the ropes as it is but every day the phone has been ringing and the answerphone has been full of messages. The biggest problem has been that Driffield now falls into the protection zone. On the plus side we've quite a few new entrants this year, particularly from Lincolnshire.

"But assuming North Yorkshire is not included in the protection zone by next week we could be in danger of losing up to 40 per cent of last year's sheep and cattle exhibitors. A lot of our bigger entries come from Malton and when you look at our regular list of exhibitors we don't have that many within a 15 mile radius of Driffield."

Richard doesn't show stock himself although he and his father rear just over 100 cattle that they fatten through the winter, and lamb 330 commercial ewes. "I like livestock and that's probably why I've stewarded the sheep section at the Great Yorkshire for the past 30 years. I've been on the general committee for Driffield Show for about eight years now and a new livestock secretary was needed this year.

"I've always gone to the show and once judged the non-pedigree/commercial sheep section, but we've never shown apart from at Christmas Fatstock markets some years ago. I'm always optimistic and this year we have new sections to look forward to in both the cattle and sheep areas following demand from previous years. British Blondes will have their first individual section in the cattle lines while Hampshires and Oxfords get their opportunity in the sheep classes."

Richard counts himself and the family farm as being as traditional a farming operation as there is today. "I've followed a traditional path. I joined the Young Farmers, went to agricultural college, came back to the farm. In my generation that's what we did. We're as traditional as anybody.

"There are not many round here who have stuck with sheep. It's still a way of life as much as a job. Cattle prices are as good as they've ever been, and the lamb trade has been good, but it's not all about money, is it? We just enjoy working with nature, through the seasons in the fresh air."

Driffield Show and Driffield Agricultural Society are forward-thinking. They host a massive variety of agricultural and rural businesses and explore new opportunities particularly with their Enterprise Village, but they also share Richard's feelings about farming. They have remained true to their agricultural roots and are always firmly committed to providing a real countryside show – no matter how many lines are drawn on a map.

Driffield Show, Kelleythorpe Showground, Driffield, Wednesday July 16.