A major problem for farmers whose herds are blighted with bovine TB is the 60-day movement restriction.

It means that, as well as losing animals that fail to pass the TB test and are destroyed by vets, they are unable to trade their livestock, except at specialist markets.

Bovine TB campaigner Pat Bird has a beef-suckler herd in North Cornwall that is currently under movement restriction. She has already lost valuable animals to the disease and is awaiting another 60-day test next week on her herd, including her pedigree Aberdeen Angus and Bazadaise bulls.

While she said she welcomed the news on the two pilot-scheme culls, it was only a muted welcome, as she was well aware a lot of the plans would have to be investigated in depth and agreed before they proceeded.

Mrs Bird, who farms at Crackington Haven, and whose herd has now been under movement restriction for three months, following two tests, commented: "I welcome any statement from a Defra Minister that deals with the cause of bovine TB in my cattle – rather than its result."

But, she said, she agreed wholeheartedly with the over-view of the situation given by WMN columnist Anthony Gibson.

"Having read the Natural England documentation, including its eight annexes on 'how not to cull badgers', he summed up the cull proposals by saying that they did not make encouraging reading, and I would agree with that entirely," she said.

"It was hard to say which part in the documents gave the greater degree of concern – the cost of what is proposed, which was £1.38 million plus a contingency fund, or the regulatory burden on participating farms.

"He said it would be a very brave and determined group of farmers which signed a TB-management agreement with Natural England under its current proposals – and I couldn't have put that better."