AGRICULTURE minister Baroness Hayman, visiting a West Devon farm last week, said there would be no change in the Government's controversial policy to tackle tuberculosis in cattle.

The minister was in the area to see for herself the effects of the disease, and, though she said she was as frustrated as the farmers at the slow progress in tackling the problem, she stressed the solutions had to be based on sound science.

She said: 'We want to do anything we can, the situation is desperately serious. For individuals it can be devastating.

'I share the frustrations, but there aren't any instant solutions.'

The minister said the Government's strategy was built around a wide-ranging research programme into the disease and how it spreads, and included work on vaccines, animal husbandry and strengthening existing controls, as well as the controversial badger culling trials designed to determine the extent of the contribution badgers make to TB in cattle.

She said the trials were just one strand of the strategy.

'It's something that gets a lot of public attention. People react very strongly on both sides, but we've got a strategy that looks at husbandry, research issues about transmission from other wildlife sources such as rats and ticks and a lot of research is going into developing a vaccine.

'Without knowing what's going to be effective, it's no good rushing ahead with a strategy that's not based on sound science.'

But she added it was unlikely results of the trials would be available before 2004.

Simon Whattler, NFU group secretary for Okehampton and Hatherleigh, said it had been a constructive meeting, but they were left with the feeling that until the trials were completed Government policy would not change.

He said: 'The trials are nowhere near fast enough. TB is spreading like wildfire and the effects are catastrophic. Farmers are suffering huge losses — there is compensation for loss of cattle but not for the loss of income.'

Mr Whattler lost half of his own herd four years ago

'The stress was unbelievable. What the Government is doing is just not enough. We would like to see the possibility of controlled culling of badgers by the ministry in areas where TB has broken out — the policy used to be just that, but now it is to leave all areas alone apart from the trial sites.

'A lot of farmers are convinced it's the badger, but nothing happens, farmers just have to sit there and take what is thrown at them.'

Mr Whattler reiterated strongly that farmers did not want a wholesale slaughter of badgers, which suffered just as horribly from TB as the cattle.

One local farmer, a founder member of the West Devon Farmers' TB Action Group meeting the minister, said there did seem to be a link between TB in badgers and cattle.

He said they began finding badgers dead outside their setts late last year, then within five or six months there was TB in his cattle.

'It has been devastating, particularly after the BSE crisis,' he said.

Twenty cows and eight young stock had to be put down last month out of a total milking herd of 130.

The Government compensates for the cost of each animal, but that represented between £700 and £900 in lost production in just one month for the farmer.

That does not include the costs of conducting the tests every six weeks on 270 animals and the extra staff to round them up.

'I don't think the Government is doing enough. TB has come into this area completely out of control and measures taken at the moment are totally inadequate — the disease is running ahead of them, but we are extremely grateful the minister has come to hear us, she must be concerned,' he said.