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Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson posts harrowing update about his farm as deadly disease hits
Jeremy Clarkson has taken to social media to share a devastating update as a deadly disease hits his much-loved farm.
Clarkson is arguably best known for his work on Top Gear, but the 65-year-old has turned his attention to farming and his journey has been documented by Amazon Prime.
Now, Diddly Squat Farm is loved around the world, but tragically, Clarkson has shared a devastating update regarding the health of his animals.
Clarkson’s Cotswolds Farm Hit with Bovine TB, Now Faces Loss of First Calf
Clarkson has opened up about a heartbreaking development at his Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire: a calf born at the farm has died after contracting bovine tuberculosis (TB).
The former Top Gear star, who bought the Chadlington property in 2008 and took over its day-to-day operations in 2019, revealed the sad news in a post on Instagram early Thursday.
“This was the first calf ever born at Diddly Squat,” Clarkson wrote beside a photo of the animal.
“And this morning she was destroyed, while pregnant with twins, because she has TB. So sad.”
TB Outbreak Brings Major Disruption to Farm Operations
Earlier this year, Clarkson’s farm was struck by a bovine TB outbreak, which compelled him to take drastic measures to contain it.
Speaking previously to The Times, he described being on a “very steep learning curve” as the disease spread through his herd.
“The disruption’s enormous, because you aren’t allowed to operate as a business,” he explained.
“You have to isolate them for two months. So, all the barns we needed to store the grain in, we now have to convert into a cow hospital.
"We’ve got another calf with pneumonia, so that needs to be housed.
"And we can’t buy or sell a cow now because the farm officially, you know, has TB.”
The situation has been made worse by concurrent health issues affecting livestock.
In addition to the calf’s death, Clarkson shared that another calf had pneumonia, and previously, one of his puppies died around the same time the TB outbreak was confirmed.
As part of the containment strategy, Clarkson and his team converted grain barns into isolation and treatment areas, and halted all trade of cattle.
What’s Next for Clarkson’s Farm: Series 5 and Beyond
While the farm works through the fallout from the TB outbreak, Clarkson’s Farm series continues.
Series five has already been filmed, and new episodes are expected to debut on Prime Video in the new year.