Jeremy Clarkson has had to cull the first calf born on Diddly Squat after his Cotswolds farm was struck by an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis.
The Clarkson’s Farm star revealed that the cow had been pregnant with twins when it caught the disease earlier this summer.
“This was the first calf ever born on Diddly Squat,” Clakrson wrote underneath a photo of the animal on Instagram. “And this morning she was destroyed while pregnant with twins, because she has TB. So sad.”
Diddly Squat, a 1,000-acre holding in Oxfordshire, is at the heart of Clarkson’s hugely popular Prime Video series, which follows the TV presenter’s journey as a new farmer and the challenges he faces along the way.
This outbreak of bTB is the latest setback for Diddly Squat farm, which has already weathered a year of climate-driven disasters.
Earlier this year, Clarkson gave a worrying update on the future of his farm. He called 2025 the “worst year ever”, citing a “shocking” harvest due to heatwaves and drought in the UK.
Bovine TB (bTB) is a chronic respiratory disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium bovis. The disease can be catastrophic for farmers, and forces the culling of infected cattle. Due to a bTB incident in England between October 2021 and September 2022, 22,934 cows were killed.
The disease, which can also infect badgers, deer, goats and pigs, is the biggest challenge facing the farming industry today.
“An increasing number of farm families are facing the emotional and financial hardship of a TB breakdown,” Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon TD said in May 2025, urging for “decisive action”.
There are differing beliefs over how to reduce the spread, with government officials believing badger culling could stop the disease.
However, in 2022, a “landmark” report found that a badger cull did not contribute to a significant fall in levels of tuberculosis in cattle. This led the RSPCA to call for an immediate halt to culling programmes.
Sources told The Independent that, last year, 10,769 badgers were killed, bringing the total killed in 12 years to around 240,000.Despite the government’s scientific chief advising against it, officials approved a fresh round of badger culling in June 2025 – but it was later scrapped after a review of the policy was pushed through.
Clarkson bought the now-famous land in 2008 and, after the villager who ran the farm retired in 2019, he decided to see if he could run it himself – a venture tracked in Clarkson’s Farm.
Clarkson’s Farm has become one of Prime Video’s most-streamed TV shows and in July 2024, Clarkson extended his business empire by taking over rural country pub The Windmill in Asthall – a “village boozer” on five acres of countryside near Burford.
The purchase of his pub, which is called The Farmer’s Dog, featured in the latest series of Clarkson’s Farm. But Clarkson recently ruled out any similar ventures in the future, telling The Times he is “done with business” as he “doesn’t understand it”.
“I am not motivated by money. I just want a good craic,” he said.
And despite his Prime Video series’ continued success, Clarkson has suggested that the forthcoming fifth season may be its last.
“I’d do a sixth if there was a reason for doing it, like a bloody good story,” he said in May. “Whatever happens we’ll definitely take a short break as the crews are all worn out.”
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