Dutch farmers are boycotting cattle from the UK, an export industry worth around £270 million, after calves sent to Holland were found to be infected by bovine tuberculosis.

The calves were traced after tuberculosis (TB) reactors were found on a British farm which exported the animals in May.

Dutch authorities have placed 27 farms in Holland under TB restrictions and 12 cattle have tested positive for the highly infectious disease, which damages the animal's lungs and eventually leads to death.

Farmers in the country, which had been free from TB since 1999, have reacted angrily after they were only officially told this week about the infection.