Badger haven farm struck down with TB

A farm that provided a dry haven for wildlife during the Somerset floods has gone down with TB for the first time ever.

About 200 acres of the 380-acre Oath Farm, Burrowbridge, was badly flooded earlier this year, but the higher land remained dry and was inundated by wildlife seeking to escape the waters.

“We were a complete island, with only the raised Taunton-Paddington railway line crossing the farm,” said John Perrin, who keeps 100 Charolais suckler cows with his father Dave.

See also: Hundreds evacuated in flood hit Somerset

“There are lots of badger setts in the embankment, and our farm was the first bit of dry land they could get to. We had a dozen or more badgers in the yard, walking around in broad daylight,” he added.

“We’re a closed herd and have never had TB – but during the floods we had every badger in Christendom here.”

With the livestock sheds remaining about a foot above the flood level, the Perrins managed to house their stock during the floods, and learned of the TB breakdown on 1 May.

“We had two reactors and six inconclusive reactors, so we’re retesting next week,” said Mr Perrin Jnr.

“We haven’t been able to move or sell anything. And after the floods we had no grass or anywhere dry to turn the cows on to. There are some fields that we’re only just able to get back on to now. It has been an absolute nightmare.”