Farmer battles to save calf

By Richard Savill - UK

'A farmer who has pledged to go to jail rather than allow her calf to be slaughtered has been told that a veterinary inspector bungled the test to determine whether the young bull had bovine tuberculosis.

Sheilagh Kremers, 63, has fought a two-month campaign to save five-month-old Mous'l Fern after the animal was found to have "reacted" to the test for the disease at her farm in East Ogwell, near Newton Abbot, Devon.

Mous'l Fern, one of a herd of 12 rare Dexter cattle, is to be retested on Monday.

However, the State Veterinary Service (SVS) said it believed the second test, the results of which are expected on Thursday, would also be positive. If that was the case the animal would have to be destroyed.

Mrs Kremers, who was served with a slaughter order in January, said last night: "He is in good health and eating well. I still believe the test itself is flawed. It throws up too many false results."

The SVS said the inspector who conducted the first test had been suspended from carrying out further bovine TB tests until he had been retrained.'