Published: 1st August 2025 | The English Chronicle Online
In a devastating series of events that have unfolded over just a few days, Jeremy Clarkson, the former Top Gear presenter turned farmer, is facing one of the most emotionally taxing moments since launching Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds. The 64-year-old broadcaster revealed that his cherished puppy died only hours after his farm was hit with a bovine tuberculosis (bTB) outbreak—a blow that will now see his farming operations shut down for at least two months.
Clarkson, who has become an unlikely voice for the British farming community through his Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm, spoke candidly about the pain and uncertainty he’s enduring. On Times Radio, he described how what had started as a routine veterinary test quickly turned into a nightmare. “You have a test every few months on the cows and then you sort of become blasé, it’s a hypothetical threat,” he said. “And then the vet looks up, as he did yesterday lunchtime, and said ‘I’m really sorry, this one’s failed’. That means we’re now locked down. It’s just dreadful—absolutely dreadful.”
The failed test triggered immediate restrictions on movement and commerce involving cattle from Diddly Squat, as required under UK law. According to government figures from March 2025, over 1,900 of England’s 44,000 cattle herds were affected by bTB, a serious and contagious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis. The illness, which can also infect humans, dogs, and cats, is mainly respiratory in cattle and often proves economically devastating for farms.
But the heartbreak didn’t end there for Clarkson. “I got up this morning and found one of my puppies has died,” he said, the pain evident in his voice. The cause of the young dog’s death has not been disclosed, but its timing, alongside a sickly calf the team is also tending to, has left the broadcaster emotionally drained. “Honestly, farming? I’m not enjoying it this week,” he confessed.
The emotional toll is being compounded by a string of other misfortunes that have struck Diddly Squat Farm in recent months. Unusually erratic weather has severely impacted crop growth, with Clarkson noting that March saw no rainfall at all, April received a mere 20mm, and May had even less—just 4mm. “It’s been drier than it was in 1976,” he wrote in his Times column. “My onions and beetroots are just sitting in the dust. The wheat is curling up, the barley won’t really get cracking at all, and I dread to think what manner of terribleness is being foisted on my poor potatoes.”
Meanwhile, his farm shop’s Instagram account recently posted a grim outlook for the year ahead: “It’s going to be a rough year. All that seed sowed, drowned with the constant rain,” referencing a previous bout of relentless wet weather that also wreaked havoc on sowing operations and overall yield.
Adding to the burden, the farm’s operations team has been hit by crime, with Clarkson’s farming partner Kaleb Cooper reporting the theft of a £7,000 post knocker—an essential tool for fencing work. Cooper, who has become a fan favourite on Clarkson’s Farm, vented his frustration on Instagram, revealing that the same night also saw the theft of a neighbouring company’s £70,000 John Deere tractor. A burnt-out SUV was later found abandoned nearby, indicating a highly organised and destructive criminal act targeting the local farming community.
The string of misfortunes—disease, death, crop failures, and theft—has laid bare the often brutal reality of rural life, even for someone with Clarkson’s public profile and resources. While Clarkson’s Farm has brought visibility and a degree of levity to the challenges of modern agriculture, recent events have stripped away the humour, revealing the vulnerability and unpredictability that farmers contend with daily.
The TB lockdown means the farm’s cattle operations will remain suspended for a minimum of two months, after which another round of testing will determine whether restrictions can be lifted. In the meantime, Clarkson and his team must endure not only the logistical strain but also the emotional burden of having lost a beloved animal companion, while confronting the broader chaos triggered by disease, extreme weather, and theft.
For the man once known for racing Ferraris across continents, farming has proven to be a far more formidable challenge than perhaps even he expected. “It occupies my mind,” he said, describing the emotional toll. And this week, more than ever, it’s clear why.
