THE calf at the centre of the TB test row is to be slaughtered today. But yesterday distraught farmer Sheilagh Kremers said: 'At least we've made a difference.' the animal – a Dexter calf called Mous'l Fern – has lived under a death sentence since a flawed test gave a positive result for TB. Mrs Kremers, of New Barn Farm, Ogwell, won a second test. Defra tested again on Monday at New Barn Farm, Ogwell, in front of a mass media audience which ensured fair play. Yesterday, Mrs Kremers cried as she was given the news that the second test was positive. Two measurements with callipers showed a result of 16 Avian and 29 Bovine, a substantial swelling. The calf will now either be taken away or shot at the farm, probably today. Mrs Kremers said: 'I hope people will think about this testing which is so often wrong. It doesn't mean that Fern has TB, it means he has a perfectly healthy immune system. We are killing our strongest cattle.' She said only 20-30 per cent of cattle slaughtered turned out to have TB and that the way forward was for PCR blood testing, the test given to humans in hospital. And more thought had to be given to badgers, which caused the problem, she said. The Defra vet said she was sorry about the result. Mrs Kremers, 63, has fought tenaciously to save her pedigree calf since the initial test results in mid-December. She maintained the test was badly flawed, the vet who conducted the tests did not follow the rules, the results were altered and the injection site may well have become infected due to the misapplication of the test. Animal health minister Ben Bradshaw admitted last week that the test had been carried out wrongly, and agreed to a retest, which Defra had earlier insisted was not allowed under European law. Mrs Kremers' legal costs will be met by the government, though there is no confirmation of that nor, as yet, an apology from Mr Bradshaw. The vet who conducted the first test on Fern has been suspended from TB testing duty. Mr Bradshaw has launched an inquiry to discover whether the errors made in Fern's test were an isolated case or if there is widespread malpractice in TB tests across the country. Defra vets Gill Whitehead and Peter Budd arrived on Monday to conduct the second TB test. Fern is eight months old.
