Extra funds to speed up the development of a vaccine to control bovine TB in badgers and cattle will be announced by the Government next week.

The move from Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, is intended to placate the farming community, which is incensed by leaks suggesting that a cull of badgers in England has been ruled out.

However, this offer is deemed too little and the National Farmers’ Union is preparing a High Court challenge to Mr Benn’s decision on behalf of hundreds of farmers who had hoped to take part in a four-year trial cull of badgers in the southwest.

The Times has learnt that protests are to be staged at Westminster next week. Ministers could be harried by small groups of farmers when they attend engagements around the country – a ploy previously deployed by hunt supporters attempting to thwart a ban on their sport. Many cattle farmers may also refuse to cooperate with government vets over the routine testing of their animals for bovine TB.

Times Archive, 1877: Why we should be nice to badgers

I have kept badgers in perfect health for a long time on Spratt's meat biscuits, and they devoured them voraciously

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• Farmers set to take action

A senior industry source last night gave warning that “the gloves were off”. Some farmers may take the law into their own hands and, faced with loss of their livelihood and animals, may organise illicit killing of infected badgers to keep the disease at bay.

Wildlife groups, however, are delighted that badgers have been reprieved. The Badgers’ Trust, the RSPCA, the National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts are against a cull.

The frustration among farmers has been exacerbated by recent figures showing that the disease may be spiralling out of control. There were some 28,000 cases last year that cost the country £90 million but in the first four months of this year alone there were 13,500 cases.

Farmers’ leaders are waiting for Mr Benn’s precise words before initiating legal proceedings. Some senior figures are hoping that there could still be a last-ditch intervention from the Prime Minister or a change of heart from Mr Benn to allow the trial, which would cover a stretch of land from Bideford in Devon to the north Cornish coast.

If a cull is turned down, the legal action is expected to centre on the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. Under this law Parliament approved the right of farmers to apply for a licence to kill badgers for disease-control purposes. The Government, however, imposed a moratorium on badger licences in 1997 when the badger trials commenced.

The earliest likely date for a cattle vaccine is 2015. An injectable badger vaccine could be ready by mid-2010 but this is thought unviable because of the high cost of administering it.

However, a vaccine can only work on healthy badgers. Even if Mr Benn is delaying a cull now, killing infected badgers must be an option in future for vaccination to work.

Mr Benn appeared harassed as he tried to deflect questions about his decision during a visit to the Royal Agricultural Show, at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, yesterday.

He said that while he recognised the strength of feeling felt by those most affected, he had to choose a policy that would be “effective” in controlling the disease.

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