Fears have been voiced that the foot and mouth outbreak hitting the Skipton and Settle area could match the Cumbrian epidemic.
Tim Palmer, the NFU Skipton group secretary, said the disease could result in a "meltdown" of the livestock industry there.
But the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) describes the outbreak, which hit the area on May 10, as a "hotspot".
Almost 100,000 animals have so far been culled and most of the carcasses trucked to Bradford for rendering, with Agriculture Minister Nick Brown visiting Settle to see for himself the devastation caused.
Like Skipton, Keswick, in the heart of the Lake District, was on the edge of the outbreak and broadly unaffected. Shops selling outdoor clothing folded but visitors still arrived to enjoy the town.
But valleys like Wasdale - which can be compared to Malhamdale - were devastated.
Julian Whittle, farming editor at the Cumberland News, said: "The smaller valleys were badly hit because the fells were all out of bounds. There is nothing to do but walk in those areas."
Like the Yorkshire Dales, there were only a few footpaths open on lowland and not over long distances. "The Yorkshire Dales will have a long way to go before it can be compared with north Cumbria. There have been about 650 cases of foot and mouth."
It was calculated that more than a million animals had been destroyed there.
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