Jeremy Clarkson's farm faces a TB outbreak, likely leading to the culling of his cows. Photo / Getty Images
Jeremy Clarkson may face culling his beloved cows after his farm was hit with an outbreak of TB.
The former Top Gear host, 65, revealed the latest blow to his Oxfordshire Diddly Squat farm on Thursday, saying he was “absolutely devastated”.
Announcing the news on X, Clarkson said: “Bad news from Diddly Squat. We’ve gone down with TB. Everyone here is absolutely devastated.”
Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of cattle and badgers which often results in the culling of every animal that tests positive.
Culling an entire herd has been described as “one of the most distressing things that farmers will go through” by Thérèse Coffey, the former environment secretary.
Clarkson later clarified on X: “I should clear this up really. It’s Bovine TB that we have. It doesn’t affect people, just our poor cows.”
Responding to someone who said they hoped his herd recovered soon, he simply said: “They have to be culled. It’s the law.”
It marks the latest blow to the running of Clarkson’s 1000-acre farm, which he has been documenting through the hit Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm as he tries to make the business profitable.
Responding to a well-wisher who said he hoped Clarkson’s new prize-winning Aberdeen Angus bull, Endgame, would be spared, the broadcaster said: “His test was ‘inconclusive’. I couldn’t bear it if we lost him.”
The TV presenter introduced Endgame to his herd of seven cows at Diddly Squat with high hopes of producing new calves, but things did not go to plan for him in the latest series.
He grows increasingly confused as the prized bull shows little interest in the female cows, prompting Clarkson to quip: “He’s gone the wrong way.
“Seven ladies and he’s not even bothered. Now they’re chasing him. Why are they chasing him? Why did the cow just mount the bull? Do you get gay cows?”
He also revealed that the offending animal which caused the spread of TB on the farm, believed to be a cow, “is pregnant with twins”.
Some 40,000 cattle are culled every year as a result of bovine TB infection, causing devastation to farmers. More than 21,000 animals were killed because of a TB incident in England between April 2024 and March this year.
Last year, the presenter turned farmer was visited by police after activists reported blocked badger setts on his land, which is illegal under UK wildlife law.
He insisted that his defence was that he had shot all the badgers, which spread TB on farms, under licence.
He wrote at the time: “Mercifully, however, I had the perfect excuse: ‘I’ve shot all the badgers on the farm so why would I want to fill in their setts?’ And yes, before you ask, it was all legal.”
Clarkson has previously ranted on the show about the threat of TB for his cattle from the “bastard badgers”.
“These are not nice animals. Do not be fooled by Brian May. This is what badgers do. This is how much heartache they’re causing to people who’ve worked for generations to build up a farm that’s been wiped out by badgers,” he said in 2023.
Sir Brian May, the Queen guitarist, has previously argued that badgers are not responsible for the spread of TB among cattle.
He has launched a high-profile campaign to stop a badger cull for more than a decade, which has turned him into a villain in some farming communities.
Clarkson has discussed their role in spreading TB to cattle on the show, with one scene in the second series showing him explain that cows are at risk of contracting the disease because of the presence of badgers on the farm.
“If you want to make a popular show you have to say, ‘Oh, look at the little cuddly-wuddly badgers,’” Clarkson previously wrote.
However, he added: “But I thought: no, it’s a farming show, and you’d lose your core audience, the farmers, if you went around, saying, ‘Look at these sweet little animals’. So, I actually called them bastards and showed people what they actually do. It’s truthful.”
Clarkson bought the Diddly Squat Farm in 2008, but it was run by a villager until his retirement in 2019, after which the veteran broadcaster decided to see if he could run it himself.
Over the years, he has faced numerous challenges, including bad weather damaging crops, piglets being accidentally squashed to death by their mothers and planning battles with his council over the building of a restaurant.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Bovine TB is a devastating disease that destroys farmers’ livelihoods. Our hearts go out to all farms suffering from positive cases.
“The Government and its agencies are working hard to introduce measures to reduce the spread and paying compensation to farmers who lose animals to this disease.”
“We are determined to eradicate bovine TB, rapidly rolling out badger vaccinations to help protect farmers’ livestock.”