Final threat lifted for prize bull Boxster

Formal confirmation of no appeal from Defra means that the slaughter notices hanging over the champion bull Hallmark Boxster have been quashed following a recent High Court judicial review concerning bovine TB testing procedure. The Court also held that Defras presumption of bovine TB in Boxster is not warranted.

The Blonde DAquitaine bull owned by Ken and Anita Jackson, of Hope Farm, Stubbs Walden, Pontefract, had been issued by Defra with slaughter notices following TB testing of the herd which were questioned during a four-day High Court hearing last month.

Suffolk solicitors from Barker Gotelee, Richard Barker and Dermott Thomas, who acted for the family, said the Defra had breached its own guidelines in sampling for bovine TB.

The judge accepted that Defra veterinary surgeons had mishandled the sampling process carried out on the farm and as a consequence did not follow their own guidance specifically designed to prevent contamination or cross-contamination, said Mr Barker.

The Jacksons have always accepted that bovine TB is a disease which should be eradicated from cattle herds if at all possible but the system adopted for testing has to be consistent and in accordance with published policy and guidelines.

In this instance, Defras taking of blood samples failed to comply with its own guidelines, hence the legal challenge and the decision of the High Court which was based not on the opinion of scientists but on what actually happened in the Yorkshire field the day sampling took place.

Mr Barker said the court heard no evidence to suggest that Hallmark Boxster had bovine TB and the bull had passed a skin test some two weeks before the blood sampling.

He added that after an initial injunction postponing the first slaughter notice the judge had suggested that Defra should re-test but for reasons best known to Defra that did not happen.

Mr Thomas described Mr and Mrs Jackson and their daughter Kate as first class livestock farmers with a fierce determination to protect their animals and to give them the care that non-farmers would regard as remarkable.

His advice to other farmers facing TB testing Quite simply to know what the correct procedures are when testing for bovine TB and ensuring that those procedures are followed. If not, there could be grounds for a legal challenge.