WHY is so little being done to prevent the unnecessary slaughter of TB reacting cattle? The current NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) guidelines for tuberculosis (March 2006) for contact with cattle with TB advises to offer tests for latent TB only for children younger than 16 who have not had BCG (anti TB vaccination) and have regularly drunk unpasteurised milk from animals with TB udder lesions'.

Healthy cattle, classified as reactors' on inadequate testing, are being slaughtered with derisory compensation for farmers (eg £850 for a £5,000 quality heifer) when there is no risk to humans from pasteurised products.

However, TB is believed to be endemic in both the deer and badger populations, so cannot be eradicated by slaughtering cattle.

The article in the Hereford Times, May 3, illustrating the falling price of milk for farmers, was a graphic reminder of how badly we are treating the producers of something that is so valuable in our staple diet. Too late we will realise that the cattle have gone and we are at the mercy of importers, after short-term cheap milk.

The distress of watching his prime cattle (who require care 365 days a year - a vocation no less), being taken away, the financial losses suffered catastrophically by TB combined with relentless supermarket pressure is forcing my neighbour to give up dairy farming after 100 years on his family's farm.

That is the true price of milk these days.

MRS P REYNOLDS, Allensmore, Hereford.