Paul and his family were very distressed as they loaded their cattle. He spoke to ITV news in the West Country before they went.
Watch now
Last week NFU President Meurig Raymond visited Paul on his farm – hear what they both said about the situation.
Paul said: “Our last TB test was last June and we were completely clear. We’re a small family farm with 160 British Friesian cows. We’ve been a closed herd for 60 years, which means that all the cattle were born and bred on the farm and I don’t want to compromise that by bringing any animals in. We have badger setts on the farm and as far as I’m concerned there’s only one source of infection that this could have come from.
“Losing all these cows in one go is going to have a serious impact on the business. It means we’ll have no replacements at all this year and we’ll lose nearly a quarter of the herd. It will probably take us three years or more just to get back to where we are now. It’s devastating and we don’t know what our next TB test in 60 days will bring.”
More...
- Read the NFU bovine TB member briefing
- Got a question about bovine TB? Check out the FAQ's on TB Free England
- 216,222 cattle culled in Britain between 2008 and December 2013 - just ONE of the facts
- Parliament votes in favour of badger cull
- Pet cats infect two people with TB
- Dominic Dyer apologises to NFU
- High Court injunction - result
- TB on farm - the reality
*Image from www.itv.com