A farmer is battling back after losing more than 1,000 animals during the foot-and-mouth crisis - thanks to a new project set-up to encourage diversity in farming.

David Coates, 43, was forced to look at new ways of making money from the 600-acre Pot Haw Farm, near Skipton, after 400 cattle and 600 sheep had to be destroyed during the outbreak in 2001.

"When you're left with a blank canvas it gives you the opportunity to look at other things you can do with your land," said the married father-of-two who was left with only two horses and two dogs after the crisis.

"I wasn't allowed any cattle for some time so I had to rethink what could be done with the grassed land."

But in an area unsuitable for crops the only income to be made was selling packaged grass in 20kg bags for animal feed.

That was until Mr Coates came up with the idea of giving horse riders access to the land and set about establishing a business providing marked trails across his farm.

He said: "I didn't want to set up an equestrian centre but I thought it would be a good idea to allow people to come and enjoy the land and all this space."

He introduced Craven Country Ride during the summer months when cutting trails through grass was easier. But when the trails disappeared as the grass stopped growing, so did his seasonal business.

"The problem was that the grass had to be growing, so it meant we could only do it in summer months," he said. "But we wanted to create tracks to extend the season through to Christmas so we designed a machine to lay foam markers. But we needed funding to pay for it."

Help was at hand through the Yorkshire Agricultural Society's Growing Routes programme which provided £5,000 to pay for the machine and a personal mentor to support Mr Coates in his new venture, Craven Country Trails.

The Yorkshire and Humber-wide programme was set-up last year to help people in the farming community, aged 18 to 45, to develop new opportunities to stop them moving away from rural areas.

George Hamilton, regional programme director, said: "Succession in the industry is a major concern because many young people don't want to work in this community. But doing nothing is no longer an option.

"We want to help young people from rural communities start something and encourage people to stay in farming, producing food profitably while caring for the environment and the countryside."

And for Mr Coates it means trails for safer and more exciting riding can be created across his farm to be enjoyed by horse riders for most of the year round.

Craven Country Trails can be contacted on (01729) 850277.