The new, independent valuer, a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors will arrive at New Park Farm today to give a professional valuation of Mous'l Fern, the eight-month-old Dexter calf that has been in the media spotlight ever since owner Sheilagh Kremers defied Defra over its faulty TB testing. The hard-won second test also showed the calf to be a TB reactor, but Defra and Ms Kremers have subsequently failed to agree about his value. The new standard valuations table came into use at the start of February 2006, and this is causing problems for many farmers as it sets unrealistically low prices for pedigree cattle and dairy cows that have calved. 'Richard Haddock, the national livestock chairman of the NFU, told me that if this valuation is not enough I should refuse to take it,' said Ms Kremers. 'I'm not the only farmer doing this – more are beginning to stand up to Defra. I expect the valuation will be low – they all seem to be in it together.' Fern would be worth £3,500 or more at maturity, but Defra offers only current market value, which it estimates to be about £450. 'There's no other coloured bull like Fern. He would have been really valuable,' said Ms Kremers. Last week, Ms Kremers and the mass media shivered as they waited at the farm for Defra to arrive, but the vet and valuer failed to show up. 'They have to come this time,' said Ms Kremers. 'I don't have to sign anything this time either, they can just remove Fern for slaughter. 'If I don't let them then it's obstruction and I will be summoned to court. But I'm not letting him go unless the valuation is right.'
