INTENSIVE badger culling to tackle TB in livestock will be gradually phased out as moves are made to deploy a cattle vaccine for the disease, the Government has announced.

The next phase of the Government's attempt to tackle bovine tuberculosis in cattle will involve field trials of a cattle vaccine, with work accelerated to deploy it within the next five years.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said there are also plans to vaccinate more badgers - which it claims can transmit TB to livestock - against the disease and a 'gradual phasing out' of intensive culling of the wild animals.

The move spells the beginning of the end of the controversial policy of intensive badger culling, which farmers have said is necessary to control the disease that devastates the beef and dairy industries.

Despite opposition from wildlife and animal welfare groups, which said culling is inhumane and ineffective, the badger cull has been rolled out to 40 areas of England, including Dorset.

Ian Mortimer, of the Dorset Badger Vaccination Project, says he is cautious about the news.

"It's not bad news," he said. "But I am remarkably sceptical when they say 'within the next five years' and 'gradual phasing out' - we face potentially another four years of the cull continuing.

"We move more cattle than any other country in Europe. At the moment, the EU won't accept any products if we vaccinate cattle. If they don't accept produce then would that change things?

The Government claims culling has led to reductions in the incidence of TB in herds of 66 per cent and 37 per cent over the first four years in the two areas where it was introduced - Gloucestershire and Somerset.

But it envisages that the current intensive culling policy will begin to be phased out in the next few years, replaced by badger vaccination schemes which would be supported by the Government.

Culling would remain an option where disease assessment indicated it was needed.

Mr Mortimer has been a long term supporter of vaccination and says culling doesn't work because it's impossible to target any infected animal and includes healthy ones.

The government's shift in strategy has been made possible by a breakthrough by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha) which will allow for field trials of a cattle vaccine, with efforts to accelerate the vaccine's deployment within five years.

Previously it was not possible to vaccinate cattle as tests for the disease could not differentiate between vaccinated animals and those which simply had bovine TB.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: "Bovine TB is a slow-moving and insidious disease, leading to the slaughter of over 30,000 cattle every year and considerable trauma for farmers as they suffer the loss of highly-prized animals and valued herds.

"The badger cull has led to a significant reduction in the disease as demonstrated by recent academic research and past studies.

"But no-one wants to continue the cull of this protected species indefinitely so, once the weight of disease in wildlife has been addressed, we will accelerate other elements of our strategy, including improved diagnostics and cattle vaccination to sustain the downward trajectory of the disease."

National Farmers' Union (NFU) deputy president, Stuart Roberts, is also sceptical.

He said: "The NFU supports tackling the disease in every possible way but it is frustrating that too often culling and badger vaccination are given a false equivalence. Vaccination may have a role to play in areas where TB hasn’t taken hold, but it is important to note vaccination has never been demonstrated to reduce the disease with the same efficacy as culling, nor has it ever cured an infected badger.

“We welcome other measures to assist in eradicating this disease such as further funding and research into cattle vaccination and look forward to the results of field trials.

Professor Rosie Woodroffe, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said the moves, which come in the wake of an independent review of the Government's bovine TB strategy, mark a "seismic shift".

The focus on cattle-based measures such as the vaccine for livestock is "appropriate, because the best estimates show that most cattle herds that acquire TB are infected by other cattle herds", she said.

But she added that efforts to eradicate the disease entirely also have to focus on badgers.

"Vaccination is the most promising form of badger management because, unlike culling, it has the potential to eradicate TB from badgers, as well as being cheaper, more humane, and more environmentally friendly," she said.