Jeremy Clarkson struggles to hold back tears as he’s forced to kill three injured sheep in ‘tragic’ Clarkson’s Farm moment

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Jeremy Clarkson has spoken about the harsh realities of rearing sheep after struggling to hold back tears in an emotional moment from his new Amazon Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm.

The Grand Tour star’s latest show sees him leave behind his life in London to take over the day to day running of his 1,000 acre farm, which comes with a whole host of problems. 

In one scene from the upcoming series, Jeremy is faced with the difficult decision to put down three of his new flock after they develop illnesses which prevent them from giving birth to lambs. 

After taking them to the abattoir himself, the presenter is left with tears in his eyes after returning to their pen to say goodbye on last time – only to find that they’ve already been taken off to be killed.

Talking about the moving moment, Jeremy told Metro.co.uk and other press that he had grown attached to the sheep, but that killing them was ‘part of the job’.

‘Nobody likes killing an animal,’ he said. ‘They just don’t. You can’t say: “I enjoy killing animals.” You’d be deranged, you’d be a sociopath. So you don’t enjoy it.’

‘You’ve got to do it. It’s the business. You know, we all like a roast – although I appreciate some people eat seeds and weeds – but normal people eat meat and they like a Sunday roast. So it has to happen.’

Jeremy went on to say: ‘That was my first experience of it, where I raised these things. And I actually got to know those three sheep quite well.

‘I had to keep them for complicated veterinary reasons for a few weeks after they’d been diagnosed as having “bad bags”, which is something I had never heard of before, before they were killed.’

He added: ‘I had to go and feed them every night, and it was a tragic moment. I nearly abdicated the responsibility of taking them to the abattoir to someone else. But then I thought: “No, come on, you’ve got to do it”.

The series also sees Jeremy lambing the flock himself, which he described as ‘incredibly revolting’ at times, although the farm enjoys a successful lambing season in the show.

‘With all the lambs I gave birth to, I actually delivered them, nurtured them, raised them, watched them grow, watched their tails fall off, watched their balls fall off. Then I ate them. It’s a process you have to go through if you’re going to run a farm,’ he said.

As well a rearing sheep, the new series also sees Jeremy get accustomed to the cereal side of farming. The 61-year-old learns to harvest crops on his own, while also tackling the worst possible weather and the outbreak of the coronavirus.

A synopsis for the new series reads: ‘Jeremy Clarkson is a journalist, a broadcaster, and a man who travels the world to slide sideways in supercars while shouting. He is not a farmer, which is unfortunate because he’s bought a 1,000-acre farm in the English countryside and decided to run it himself, despite knowing nothing whatsoever about farming. 

‘The series follows an intense, backbreaking and frequently hilarious year in the life of Britain’s most unlikely farmer and his team, as they contend with the worst farming weather in decades, disobedient animals, unresponsive crops, and an unexpected pandemic.’

Clarkson’s Farm will launch June 11 on Amazon Prime Video.

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