Jeremy Clarkson has said that he is "not enjoying farming" at the moment as bovine tuberculosis took hold on his Diddly Squat Farm this week.
The former Top Gear presenter revealed that he is also dealing with "a very sickly calf", while stating that one of his puppies had died on Friday morning. This happened after a pregnant cow contracted the disease on his Oxfordshire farm.
"It’s awful, it is awful. You have a test every six months on the cows and then you sort of become blasé, it’s a hypothetical threat", Clarkson wrote on X. "And then the vet looks up, as he did yesterday lunchtime, and said ‘I’m really sorry this one’s failed".
"So that means we’re now locked down and it’s just dreadful, absolutely dreadful".
He continued: "It’s only been not even 24 hours since I found out and it occupies my mind. Well it was occupying my mind but I got up this morning and found one of my puppies has died".
"And we’ve got a very sickly calf. Honestly, farming? I’m not enjoying it this week".
In the comments section under his post, Clarkson was asked about the prize bull called Endgame.
"His test was ‘inconclusive’. I couldn’t bear it if we lost him", Clarkson said.
In another post, Clarkson added: "The farm is NOT shut. We just can’t buy or sell any cows".
Cattle who fail a TB test or animals with two consecutive tests are classed as "reactors", and must be isolated or slaughtered.
Bovine TB can have devastating effects on businesses, and can spread through close contact when cattle breathe in droplets of mucus containing Mycobacterium bovis bacteria exhaled from an infectious animal.
A mapping platform for the disease in England and Wales have also said that there have been reports of cases in the Oxfordshire area near the Diddly Squat Farm over the last few weeks.
