A planned culling of badgers in the Autumn within carefully selected areas should bring some relief to farmers in the South West.

Just where the two controlled culling areas will be has not been announced by Environment secretary Caroline Spelman who has issued a package of measures to tackle bovine TB.

But farmers in the south west, who have been among the worst hit by bovine TB and had thousands of animals slaughtered, expect to be included.

The culling is expected to attract considerable opposition, but those in support of badger control say doing nothing is not an option.

Andrew George, MP for St Ives and Lib-Dem spokesman on agriculture told South West Farmer: “The government is right. Doing nothing is not an option. This disease is devastasting many livestock areas.

“We must all hope that this policy will help and not make the matter worse.”

But he said the Government had to strengthen plans to undertake a proper and rigorous assessment of the badger population in each of the pilot areas. It should take place before and after the cull. He also wants assurance that badgers collected from any cull are from the pilot areas and not outside them. President of the influential Country Land and Busineess Association (CLA) Harry Cotterell, said: “Government has shown it is completely committed to supporting the eradication of bovine TB. This dreadful disease will cost England more than £1 billion over the next decade, with hundreds of thousands of cattle dying needlessly, if nothing is done.

“The CLA backs a controlled cull, carried out by farmers and landowners, as part of a science-led, well-managed and sustained control policy. Badger culling, TB testing, cattle movement control and removal and slaughter of infected animals are all essential tools to tackle the disease.”

Peter Kendall, president of the NFU said it was the ‘right way forward’. He expressed his relief on behalf of the farming industry. It was a “massive step forward in achieving our end goal of a healthy countryside – both for badgers and for cattle.

“However, I want to remind everyone this has never been about eradicating badgers; this is about eradicating disease. And there are some serious challenges ahead. But we take this issue extremely seriously and we remain committed to working with Defra and Natural England to deliver an effective TB control plan. This has never been and will not be a quick fix and we’re fully prepared for that. Between January and August 2011 23,248 cattle were slaughtered in Great Britain following positive TB tests. Defra statistics show there was a provisional 4.4 per cent increase in the number of new TB incidents during the same period compared to 2010.In announcing the cull prior to Christmas, Mrs Spelman said it would last four years and cost around £4 million. It is expected to lead to a 16 per cent reduction in bovine TB.There will be two 150 square kilometre trial areas where it is estimated 75 per cent of badgers will have to be shot. “I know there is great strength of feeling on this issue but I also know that we need to take action now before the TB situation deteriorates even further,” she said. “I am acutely aware that many people are opposed to the culling of badgers and I wish that there was a current satisfactory alternative. “But we can’t escape the fact that the evidence supports the case for the controlled reduction of the badger population in the areas affected by bovine TB.” Farmers and landowners will be invited to bid to run the trials. They will then be responsible for training marksmen to kill the badgers. Because the West and South West are worst affected by the disease, with one in four cattle farms unable to move their livestock because of fear of infection it is highly likely the area will be included in the trial. An extra £250,000 is also to be made available each year for vaccinating badgers against TB, but the animals need to be trapped and caged before a vaccine can be administered by injection.