Fern was the only one of Mrs Kremers' cattle to react positively

Fern, a Dexter bull calf owned by Sheilagh Kremers, was found to be a bovine TB reactor during a routine annual test in December.

A government vet and a valuer visited the East Ogwell farm near Newton Abbot on Thursday to remove the calf.

They were only allowed on the land to inspect the calf's living conditions.

Calf isolated

The vet from the State Veterinary Service (SVS) and a valuer turned up at the 27-acre New Park Farm, near East Ogwell, to put a price on the animal and then carry out a slaughter with drugs before removing the carcass.

But Mrs Kremers, 63, stood at the farm gate and refused entry while Fern remained in isolation in a barn a few hundred yards away.

She told the vet, Linda Farrant, that the calf was in isolation and she wanted him retested.

Mrs Kremers said: "You cannot come without a slaughter warrant, I am not allowing you to come in."

Mrs Kremers has said that being a TB reactor meant the calf had only a 20% chance of having the disease.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - which has refused to carry out a second test - has said the positive reaction meant the calf had to be slaughtered under UK and European law.

'No appeal'

The remainder of Mrs Kremers' cattle had a negative reaction to the test, but Fern's positive test means he may have come into contact with the disease.

After refusing the vet permission to carry out the slaughter, Mrs Kremers was told she was committing an offence of obstruction under the Animal Health Act and an application for a warrant would be made.

But the farmer allowed the vet on to her land to inspect the conditions of isolation, first insisting the lethal injection kit was left outside the farm gate.

Mrs Kremers, who has had many letters and calls of support for her stand, said: "I am fighting for everybody. There is no appeal, and this needs to be changed."