The son Guy Thomas-Everard made an impassioned plea against his healthy farm animals being killed as part of a pre-emptive cull designed by the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) to save Exmoor animals from foot and mouth disease.
If the two farms became infected they were expected by MAFF officials to act as a "gateway" for the disease to spread from there to the rest of Exmoor.
In an interview with the BBC he said He blocked the entrance to the farm with a truck and said that he had instructed lawyers to prevent MAFF carrying out the cull.
On May 10, following intensive media coverage, MAFF announced that the risk of contraction of disease at the farm had been re-assessed and downgraded.
Guy Thomas-Everard joined a group of farmers, businessmen and media organisations who brought an unsuccessful legal challenge to the government's decision not to hold a public inquiry into the foot and mouth crisis.