Tuberculosis in cattle is a serious problem in Devon - in the first 10 months of 2004, a total of 877 farms in the county were under restriction for the disease at some point.

The trial involved proactive culling

The Irish Four Area Trial involved intensive, proactive badger culling with reference areas where badgers were only removed if there was a severe TB outbreak.

It found that culling appeared to reduce the rate of TB in cattle considerably.

Anthony Gibson - the regional director of the NFU - says the results mean the government must include proactive badger culling in its TB strategy due to be published next month.

Anthony Gibson

He said: "The results are clear, comprehensive and conclusive and show that concerted action against the disease in badgers in the worst areas will achieve a very significant reduction of outbreaks of the disease in cattle.

"That is something the government must act on because while culling badgers is not the whole answer, it has got to be part of a holding operation at the moment."

North Devon farmer Tony Yewdall said: "Something has got to be done. It is a very serious problem that is spreading all over the country and costing a lot of money."

Tony Yewdall has lost almost 100 animals to TB

Mr Yewdall's farm near Bideford has been under restrictions for just over a year and in that time he's lost nearly a hundred animals to TB.

Tony Yewdall believes selective culling of badgers must be allowed until a suitable vaccine against bovine TB becomes available.

"Nobody is saying it is all to do with badgers," he says, "but badgers are part of it."

The Irish report says that widespread badger removal in Ireland, although feasible, is not a viable strategy to control bovine TB.

The National Federation of Badger Groups says the study is flawed, and doesn't show whether the effect is enough to warrant the massive cost of the slaughter.

Elaine King from the National Federation of Badger Groups

Spokesperson Elaine King says "Ireland's futile badger slaughter has simply confirmed that badger culling will never be a solution to the problem of bovine TB.

"This makes it vital that Defra focuses all its energies on controlling the movement of infected livestock and removing all infected cattle by implementing the more accurate gamma interferon TB test."