A FARMER who feared he might lose his prize-winning flock along with his tenancy when faced with eviction, has seen his fears realised.

Tenant farmer Dave Woodger, who with his son Sean, has run Parsonage Farm, Yalding, on the edge of the Syngenta factory site, for more than 18 years, has sold all but 14 of his 80-strong flock and two heifers last week.

The site's owners, Sygenta, which ceased production in December and will vacate the site by the end of this year, had warned that he would need to leave the site so it could be sold as a whole.

The company had offered Mr Woodger a renewal of his tenancy at two monthly intervals until November, but, he said, this meant he would be unable to plan ahead for his animals.

Despite lengthy negotiations, Mr Woodger opted to sell all his animals, except those he was most attached to. They included nine rams - including the greatest character in the flock, a ram called Brutus with a liking for Mars bars and Coca Cola - and five sheep which he had bottlefed.

Mr Woodger said: "To see 18 years of breeding going out of the door is like a big wrench. It was very hard seeing them go."

Mr Woodger took on the smallholding, at a peppercorn rent of £1 a year, where his animals grazed Yalding Fen, after working for the company for 21 years as a security officer. Despite taking the decision himself, Mr Woodger said he was very disappointed by the outcome.

He had originally hoped to purchase the holding, or continue on the site.

Syngenta site manager, Mike Oates, said: "Mr Woodger has been fully supported by the site for many years. It has always been a mutual agreement. We have, however, always maintained that it would be better to sell the site as a whole, as it is easier to deal with a single purchaser.

"We are still in discussion, but the view was also that the whole area needed to be less intensively grazed. We have been trying to strike a balance between what is right for the land in the future and everyone's needs, but there are no easy answers."

Mr Oates said there were hopes that the Yalding Fen could eventually become a nature haven.