Chris Mobbs of PA Mobbs at Cratfield, near Halesworth, is readying more than 3,000 birds for Christmas - making him one of Suffolk's smaller-scale commercial producers.

He and wife Judith planned to take a four-day holiday from the family business to visit their son while they left the farm to the care of their farmworker.

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But with bird flu cases on the rise - there have been four recent cases on poultry farms around Suffolk and a further three in Norfolk since October - he has reluctantly shelved his plans.

More: Cull ordered as bird flu found at big commercial poultry farm in Suffolk

One of the Norfolk farmers affected is a good friend, he says. The turkey industry is a close-knit one and most of the independent farmers still left know each other.

"The turkey world is small enough now you virtually know most people in it," he says. "At the end of the day it's a lottery - it really is."

Three years ago, Chris could barely move from his farm when he was caught between three bird flu outbreaks on other farms.

The virus was raging across the county - leaving poultry farmers distraught as thousands of birds were culled.

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