WITHIN hours of this picture being taken these young calves were dead – victims of the scourge of bovine TB (bTB).

The 27 animals – all around five months old – were taken from a farm in Woolaston to Ensors abattoir in Cinderford to be slaughtered on Tuesday.

They were the last of 126 animals with the disease at Plusterwine House Farm that were destroyed over the last week.

Most distressing for farmer Jim Hunt and his family was having 62 cows and calves shot at the farm last week.

Mr Hunt says he reluctantly supports the badger cull planned to establish its effectiveness in reducing TB in infected areas.

He said: "I really don't think people understand what it means when there is TB.

"I wish some of the badger people could have been here to see our cows and calves shot. It was very distressing.

"We've got nothing against badgers but something has got to be done.

"TB kills badgers too. It is not just a case of them passing it onto our animals.

"Before the (Protection of) Badgers Act came in badgers were gassed in infected zones and TB was reduced to a few small areas.

"Now it is all over the country and it is getting worse."

Mr Hunt estimates that the outbreak of bTB has cost his business "tens of thousands of pounds."

The family farms around 700 acres producing milk, beef and crops but the long-term outlook for cattle farming is bleak if bTB is not controlled.

He said: "We will have to look at whether we continue with animals or go over to just having crops.

"Farming is a way of life but if the animals go then that is four jobs that go too."