CONSERVATION campaigners said this week that they would oppose any knee-jerk reaction from the Government to begin a mass cull of badgers to control the spread of bovine TB, writes Farming Reporter Jennie Dennett.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust conservation manager David Harpley said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs must wait for the outcome of scientific tests to develop an effective strategy for controlling tuberculosis in cattle.

Mr Harpley was responding to comments from Rural Affairs Secretary Margaret Beckett who admitted that she might order a badger cull after listening to farmers' demands at this week's National Farmers Union annual meeting in Birmingham.

Mrs Beckett has been worried that farmers may no longer co-operate in government tests to prove a link between badgers and the disease in cattle. They believe the link is already clear and want action.

About 500 farmers cheered as NFU TB spokesman Jan Rowe confronted Mrs Beckett, calling the numbers of infected farms in the UK "a national Disgrace".

"you are only a hairsbreadth away from losing the co-operation of farmers who are fighting this awful disease," he said.

Bovine TB now affects 5,500 farms, with 6 per cent of the country's 95,727 herds infected. In Cumbria, 14 farms are affected and there is what DEFRA has termed a "mini-epidemic" in Furness where four farms are affected.

The county's problem is nowhere near as serious as that in the South West but concerns are growing about the spread of TB.

On Monday, outgoing NFU president Sir Ben Gill called on the Government to halt to the official scientific tests, known as Krebs trials. He said they had not been properly carried out but had already proved a clear link between badgers and bovine TB. Instead he urged DEFRA to implement a system of control strategies based on the intensity of disease in different areas of the country.

Mrs Beckett is still waiting for an independent report on the trials' effectiveness but said: "I am open to radical solutions. If scientific evidence suggests that badger culling would be effective, I will want to consider if we can develop a practical and cost-effective policy."

The NFU's own scientific review suggests infected badgers need to be culled using gas and that other wildlife such as deer should be included in any slaughter.

Supporters say there should be a wildlife cull in hot spots such as Wiltshire. The extermination could also take place in "fire break zones" next to the most intensive disease clusters.

Mr Harpley said the Government must wait for the outcome of its Krebs trials, and a badger culling programme in Ireland, before taking action.

"There are people on both sides of the argument happy to have knee-jerk reactions but that won't do us any good at all. We have to wait and figure out what is the best thing to do. If you don't do the effective thing we will all be back at square one."