The herd restrictions which accompany a TB reactor, (or an inconclusive, if that happens to be within three years of a confirmed breakdown) are more of a problem than the test and its consequences.

Julia has already written about being able to trade her store cattle while I have to prepare to force-feed ours, and sell direct to slaughter.

But to put that into perspective, imagine the problems this causes with very high genetic merit herds.

Those who have spent huge sums on embryo transfer work, or whose carefully bred cattle are picked from the top performing genetic merit lists in the country, to provide the next generation of bulls or bull mothers.

While herds can trade within GB when they achieve TB free status, they are completely barred from exporting cattle, semen or embryos if either the bull (even as a calf) or a female has ever been 'resident in a herd while it is under TB restriction'.

So, no semen collection, no embryo sales and no live cattle sales for animals which have had that privilege during their lifetime.

Article 11.7.4 of the EU Directives goes further, defining a TB free herd from which these products (semen, embryos or cattle) may be drawn, as having been free of TB at either ante-mortem or post- mortem inspection for 'at least 3 consecutive years' - before exports can be considered.

As semen companies are unlikely to take on a bull if they cannot market him worldwide, the investment such herds have made in breeding quality stock will not be covered by either UK stock sales, or their milk or beef price.

However fancy the genetics, the basic produce from pedigree stock snarled up in this cat's cradle of infection is worth no more than the milk of a bog standard dairy cow or the carcass of an R4L crossbred steer.

From being the stockyard of Europe, thanks to government intransigence, we are fast becoming its graveyard.

Calves are still coming thick and fast, with two sets of twins this week; most are by 'Pioneer', our oldest Angus bull who has shaped up into a big lad siring quality calves. Although his 'tackle' is not level (as in side-by-side) it is obviously in full working order.

And at least he has two more than our Minister, a vegetarian chap called Hilary who is now joined at Defra by another vegetarian, an ex fireman from London. Completing the team is an MP from NE Somerset who enjoys 'walking in the glorious countryside'.

Unfortunately for one of this MP's constituents, even after a full briefing on 'bovine' TB and her problems with it, he asked what she meant. He didn't understand her problem.

As Defra have no intention of taking their calves as 'dangerous contacts', we'll keep our 'problems' - the three young suckler cows, due for the chop under severe interpretation - until their calves are big enough to stand a fighting chance of survival. And if that goes beyond the due date of the next 60 day test, so be it.

Meanwhile extensive, grass fed, suckler yearlings (pictured left) which we'd hoped to sell as stores, will be housed and pushed hard on supplementary beef ration. Just like battery chooks. And then we'll sell them fat.

The abattoir we use is tangled up with Farm Assurance contracts, or should it be con-tricks, and to that end, I'm filing paperwork for their annual inspection.

Most are useful management tools, but it's the 'plans' and duplication that irritate. Birth, movement and medicine records are covered under other labels, but 'vermin control'? Maps of where rat bait will be put at some vague future date? How should I know, the rat hasn't arrived yet. And define the term 'vermin', which means different things to different people.

I've tried before, but our Eblex bloke will not be drawn as to just why this country is content to slaughter thousands of productive cattle; why we cannot 'market' our stock in a commercial market place and why we have to change around the way we would like to farm to accommodate disease ridden wildlife. 

To that he gave no answer, but I'll guarantee that he'll want the date and reference in the medicine book, of when we wormed the cat.

Such a tiny thing, a millimetre: a miniscule measurement that means life or death to a cow. I much prefer an inch, or even a yard - which is how much Defra are inclined to grab, if offered the inch.

As I said last week, three young suckler cows (pictured left) which would have been inconclusive re-tests on a 'standard' interpretation of the TB test, now face the chop under 'severe'.

And we have to balance the hassle of either bucket feeding their calves or trying to foster them onto another cow - against keeping the cows longer, on welfare grounds to rear their calves.

I have known beef farmers voluntarily shoot such calves rather than adopt any of these three options. And while the cattle are still on the farm, we will not be able to test again, so the 60 day re-tests will be delayed, and with them the possibility of 'trading' some cattle.

So this week we have to look at various bunches of our stock, and try to move them on in the most cost effective way.

Which will not be through the local livestock market, with pride in the cattle which we have bred and presented for sale. Last year's calves, in fact anything over a year old and not smart enough for breeding, will be kept inside and fed corn and silage to finish quickly before winter.

And we will try and move some suckler cows, either in calf or newly calved ones plus their calves under Defra license, with possibly some smaller store cattle going to exempt finishing units, again under license and at a not inconsiderable discount.

But the bottom (and very brutal) line will be, not to serve again some perfectly healthy and productive young mums and two pedigree, DNA typed Aberdeen Angus and very fertile bulls and send them direct to slaughter instead.

We've had a pretty dire week. On 'standard' interpretation, our TB test would have thrown up 4 inconclusives, all of which would have had another chance to prove their  immune systems had fought off exposure to TB bacteria.

But on severe interpretation, three animals are likely to get the chop, and another seven are stoked up to IR level. Of the three which become 'reactors', one calved a month ago, another on the day of the test and one is due next week.

So it looks like I shall be bucket feeding some orphans for a while, as their mums disappear into the maw of Defra's killing machine.

Defra's appetite for swallowing sentinel tested cattle, shows no sign of slowing down either, with AHOs snowed under with herd restrictions and slaughter notices. They tell me that regulations and reinterpretations are coming thick and fast from head office. And none of them good.

I have spoken of the confusion over what is an overdue test rather than overdue data transfer. But it appears that Defra see no difference and are intent on using the SFP lever.

And on herds who have not booked a test then there is a chance that AHO will come and do it - and then send a bill to the farmer. As AHO staff have been severely reduced and for those that are left, the workload has doubled, that could involve a long wait too.

We coped with testing the new mums and their calves safely anyway, but that care came at a price. A long, noisy four hours, doing small batches at a time.

Meanwhile the cows continue to calve, with twins born two days ago; two more cows have calved as I scribble this. Over the next two months we expect another 40 calves.

And then we have to test all over again.

I never gave the Tb testing of young calves much thought when we were dairy farming, and certainly didn't when the herd was on 3/4 year testing cycle, as only female cattle over two years old, or breeding bulls were jabbed. But this week will be a feat of skill and patience to ensure that our new suckler mums and their offspring remain a live package after the two day procedure of the jab and its measuring.

When dairy calves are taken from their mums early and then handled either as individuals or part of a similar sized group for testing, these problems didn't arise. But this week we have to fetch in about 30 cows, all with young calves, from the fields, and as they are all funnelled into ever smaller spaces and then run through race and crush to face the vet with his jab guns, ensure that these calves are not squashed or trampled.

We will try to separate cows from their offspring, and handle in smaller groups to minimise opportunity for damage, but even this doesn't always ensure the calf's safety. I've heard tales from beef farmers of broken legs, bumps and bruises  or internal crush injuries during testing: and that's both calves and farmers. Take your pick. Presumably, as with shipped embryos which we experienced with the constant testing of dairy cattle,  Defra would class this as 'collateral damage' and as such, is nothing to do with them.

Inevitably, the separation of mum from her calf will mean that our eardrums will be blasted by the yawls of frantic cows. Conversation is impossible and any human communication takes place with hand signals only. For our both vet and us it will be an exercise in patience and skill; a forerunner for party charades perhaps?

The whole thing is a charade. An expensive exercise futility which is totally avoidable and utterly pointless unless the source is addressed.  And that source is not our regularly tested cattle, or their under-four-weeks-old calves.