COURT action has been threatened against an Exmoor farmer who is trying to prevent officials taking away one of his cows from a new-born calf which he fears will die without its mother.

Fourth generation farmer Michael Reed was visited last week by officials acting for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) after the cow had been diagnosed with TB.

Mr Reed, who has farmed all his life at Higher Ranscombe, near Wootton Courtenay, has threatened to blockade access to his farm to prevent the officials reaching the Hereford Cross cow.

Despite tests confirming the disease in the animal, Mr Reed said he had not seen any of the usual TB symptoms of becoming thin, coughing, and drooling at the mouth.

Mr Reed said last week’s discussions had been friendly and amicable, but he was told the next step was for Defra to apply to a court for a warrant to enter the farm and remove the cow.

He was told the legal action was likely to take about a month before the officials returned.

Mr Reed said: “It was quite a reasonable conversation but it is only delaying it a little bit.”

In the meantime, Mr Reed has separated the cow and calf from the rest of his herd of 45 mixed cattle and is keeping them in a meadow where he said they were ‘doing fantastic, amazing’.

He now plans to ask the National Farmers Union and the Country Landowners Association for any help they could provide, and he will also meet Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate Rachel Gilmour in the hope she will be able to pressure Defra on his behalf.

Mr Reed said the big issue for farmers was that currently there was no prevention, no treatment, or no cure for bovine TB.

He said: “There is no vaccination, no treatment, it is not a very happy situation.

“I want the scientists to wake up and find a cure for it.”

Mr Reed took on the farm from his parents John Reed and Betty Reed (nee Webber), who moved there in 1947.