A PEMBROKESHIRE dairy farmer has given an emotional account of losing 51 cows and years of cattle breeding and pedigrees to bovine TB.

Hannah Lawrence posted heartbreaking photos and videos on social media of the condemned cows being taken away for slaughter from her partner, Harri Vaughan’s, family farm near Haverfordwest.

Another shows the cows’ collars hung up in the parlour after the animals were removed from the farm.

Forty-six cows and heifers were taken away for slaughter but others that were close to calving or had just calved had to be culled.

The three-generation dairy farm, which has experienced only minor TB breakdowns in the past, lost the animals after a whole-herd blood test.

Hannah, a volunteer with the DPJ Foundation, has described the experience as “horrible” and “heartbreaking” for the whole family, especially Harri's grandparents who had built up the herd.

It was the sad reality on many farms, she said. “And we wonder why mental health and suicide is so high in agriculture.’’

She is upset at what she says is the Welsh government refusal to recognise the science within its bovine TB policy as it has ruled out the culling of badgers to control the spread of TB.

In a statement, the government described TB in cattle as a “huge challenge for all concerned and distressing for farmers who have to deal with it in their herds.’’

Part of the solution was the willingness of the government and the industry to work together, it said.

“We have outlined in our Programme for Government we will not permit the culling of badgers as part of measures to deal with bovine TB. Recent scientific studies did not provide conclusive evidence that culling badgers alone would reduce incidence levels in cattle herds,

“However, we have made an additional £100,000 available for expanding badger vaccination across Wales. It has been proven that more infection is transmitted within species than between species, which suggests that controlling transmission among cattle is a priority in the strategy for eliminating TB.

“We have seen good progress towards eradication since we established our programme in 2008, with long-term decreases in new incidents and prevalence.

“Farmers are at the centre of what we’re trying to achieve, and we are, of course, listening to them. We have been clear we can’t tackle this disease alone and we all have a role to play. The consultation on our refreshed TB eradication programme has recently closed and we will carefully consider all the views provided.”