Jeremy Clarkson shares update on ‘awful’ TB outbreak at Diddly Squat Farm

’It’s just dreadful,’ a devastated Clarkson said after ‘hypothetical threat’ became real and infected his cattle

Jeremy Clarkson has shared an update on Diddly Squat farm after revealing the 1000-acre Oxfordshire location had been hit with an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis.

The TV star said the farm has gone into lockdown and will be unable to buy or sell cows for two months “because that’s how long we have to wait before we do another test”.

“It’s awful – you have a test every six months on the cows and then you sort of become blasé; it’s a hypothetical threat,” he told Times Radio on Friday (1 August).

“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.”

The Diddly Squat Farm Shop remains open.

He said he also woke up this morning to find one of his 11 new puppies, born last week, had died overnight. This is believed to be unrelated to the outbreak.

“Honestly, farming? I’m not enjoying it this week,” he said, revealing that the Diddly Squat Farm Shop is “unaffected” by the bovine TB outbreak.

Clarkson previously said that “the offending animal”, who will have to be culled “is pregnant with twins”. He also assured fans that tests for Endgame, the beloved Aberdeen Angus bull featured in his hit show, were “inconclusive”.

Diddly Squat is the holding at the heart of the former Grand Tour host’s popular Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm, which follows the TV presenter’s journey as a new farmer and the challenges he faces along the way.

He first announced the news on Thursday (31 July), writing on X/Twitter: “We’ve gone down with TB. Everyone here is absolutely devastated.”

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Clarkson soon added: “I should clear this up really. It’s Bovine TB that we have. It doesn’t affect people, just our poor cows.”

Jeremy Clarkson’s farm has been hit with outbreak of bovine tuberculosis (Prime Video)

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.

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.

This outbreak of bTB is the latest setback for Diddly Squat farm, which has already weathered a year of climate-driven disasters.

Earlier this month, 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.

Jeremy Clarkson said 2025 has been ‘worst year ever’ for farming (Prime Video)

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.