Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about some of the harsh realities of the livestock business, including sleepless nights because of his pigs.
The farmer and TV personality, 62, is no stranger to suffering huge losses on his farm - after announcing the death of a piglet in the most Jeremy Clarkson way ever in January - and it turns out the deaths of his pigs have had a huge impact on him.
He’s had to give up seven of his male pigs to slaughter recently, which the former Top Gear presenter described as a ‘gut-wrenching’ decision.
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“I can never properly sleep the night before they go, and all the way to the slaughterhouse I have what feels like a hot cricket ball in the pit of my stomach,” he shared in his latest Sunday Times column.
“And then when it's finally time to say goodbye, I always become a little bit unmanly.”
But don’t feel too bad for Clarkson since he decided to avoid telling porkies and said despite the sadness and sleepless nights, he’s quite looking forward to tucking into the meals from his pigs.
He wrote: “I know that I’m trying to be a farmer and that this is what farmers do. And I know I will enjoy the bacon and ham and pork chops that result.”
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He continued: “But it’s not easy, taking seven happy, healthy pigs, from their woodland home to their deaths.”
Unfortunately for Clarkson, the price of pork is at a low currently, meaning he’ll probably make a loss on the pig meat anyway.
“Especially as pig prices are currently so low I’ll almost certainly end up making a loss on the transaction,” he wrote.
The Clarkson’s Farm star also set the record straight on whether he enjoys taking his animals to the abattoir. “I realise of course that it would be very Jeremy-ish to say that I enjoy taking my farm animals to the abattoir. But like many farmers I don’t. I absolutely hate it.”
Last month, Clarkson begged for help on Twitter after the birth of newborn pigs on the farm left him puzzled.
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Posted at 1:34 A.M. the TV personality said the sow showed ‘signs of distress’ after the first pig entered the word.
He tweeted: “Pig farmers. Help. It’s been nearly two hours since our first piglet was born. The sow is in some distress. What do we do?”
In his new column, Clarkson said he was told that his sow was about to give birth at 11 P.M. Once she started showing signs of distress, a vet told him to take the pig for a walk at 3 A.M. to help and thankfully, it worked out very well.
“So I got her up and, b****r me, it worked. By four in the morning we had ten piglets, which meant that on the day I was three pigs up,” he revealed. “And there were still three more pregnant pigs to go. So we came home and, despite the hour, celebrated hard with a bottle or two of wine.”
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But Clarkson later discovered that the sow accidentally killed four of the piglets by sitting on them, saying: “This is extremely irritating, and sad too. And expensive.”
Topics: Jeremy Clarkson, Celebrity, Clarkson's Farm, Animals
Gregory Robinson