GOOD NEWS AT LAST: DIDDLY SQUAT DECLARED TB-FREE AFTER SEVEN MONTHS — AND ENDGAME THE BULL PULLED THROUGH
After months of uncertainty, heartbreak, and a farm-wide lockdown, there’s finally some relief at Diddly Squat: Jeremy Clarkson has confirmed the farm is officially free of bovine tuberculosis, following a gruelling seven-month restriction period.
The outbreak was first announced back in the summer, when Clarkson revealed on social media that the farm had “gone down with TB,” describing the entire team as “absolutely devastated.” Under the restrictions that followed, Diddly Squat was barred from buying or selling any cattle, with the standard two-month testing wait stretching on far longer than anyone anticipated as further complications emerged.
The news wasn’t without real loss. One infected animal — poignantly revealed to be the very first calf ever born at Diddly Squat — had to be culled while pregnant with twins, a moment Clarkson described simply as “so sad.” But amid the heartbreak, there was one storyline fans were desperate to follow: the fate of Endgame, the farm’s beloved £5,500 Aberdeen Angus breeding bull, whose test initially came back “inconclusive.” Clarkson had been blunt about what losing him would mean, telling fans: “I couldn’t bear it if we lost him.”
Thankfully, Endgame pulled through. As the farm’s TB-free status was confirmed, Clarkson revealed the fan-favorite bull had not contracted the disease after all — a genuine sigh of relief for a fanbase that had grown deeply attached to him since his introduction in an earlier season.
True to Diddly Squat form, though, good news rarely arrives without a catch. Almost in the same breath as announcing the farm’s clean bill of health, Clarkson revealed a fresh piece of heartbreak: one of the farm’s donkeys had developed laminitis and had to be put down. Reflecting on the timing, he offered a characteristically dry summary of life on the farm: “In farming, it seems you are allowed one bit of good news, but it must always be accompanied by some kind of disaster.”
Clarkson also gave fans a glimpse into just how disruptive the lockdown period had been behind the scenes, revealing that barns originally intended to store grain had to be converted into makeshift isolation space for the herd during the restriction period.
For longtime viewers, the resolution offers a satisfying, if bittersweet, close to one of the toughest storylines the farm has faced — and, fittingly, sets up what’s expected to be a major arc in the upcoming sixth season of Clarkson’s Farm.
