A COURT has ruled that eight cows which tested positive for bovine TB on a Pensax farm must be slaughtered - but the farmer is hopeful of saving the offspring of three of them.

One of the pregnant cows gave birth to her calf in the early hours of Monday and two more are due to calve any day.

Farmer, Margaret Booton, and family friend, Samantha Qureshi, who hand-reared three of the cows as pets, said they were "absolutely devastated" when the judge issued a warrant last Thursday for their slaughter.

District Judge Bruce Morgan, sitting at Worcester Magistrates' Court, said he had no alternative other than to take the "sad decision" to grant the warrant.

Mrs Booton, of Lower Snead Farm, represented herself in court, arguing the skin test was not 100 per cent accurate and claiming that the correct procedures had not been carried out when the animals were tested last November.

The routine screening test has an accuracy rate of 99.9 per cent in finding uninfected animals but the accuracy rate falls to between 77 per cent and 95 per cent in finding infected animals.

The two women would not allow the cows to be taken voluntarily and pleaded for a stay of execution until they could be re-tested after a 60-day interval.

The State Veterinary Service, which operates on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Defra - refused, however, and asked Trading Standards to apply through the courts for a warrant.

Mrs Booton, a widow, had the heartrending job of taking the newborn male calf away from his mother the day after his birth to prevent the risk of cross infection.

"We have not heard when the cows will be taken but we don't see any reason for the calf to be taken and we hope the other two will calve before the Government vets arrive," she said.

Mrs Booton added she wanted an independent vet to be present at the post mortem on the cows to satisfy her the tests to establish whether they were infected with TB were properly carried out.

Bovine TB is rife in the countryside around Pensax and is spread by wildlife, notably badgers.