Rupert Phillips

Jeremy Clarkson’s Farm show on Amazon is the most radicalizing piece of mainstream media I’ve ever seen Just one example (bear with me): Badgers became a protected species in Britain 40+ years ago. The population has exploded and now frequently transmits tuberculosis to cows But farmers can’t cull the badger population to protect their cattle because the government still considers them to be endangered Instead of addressing the root cause, the UK has the most batshit testing regime for cattle There’s no TB vaccine. So the cattle have to get tested. The vets administering the test have to measure welts on the cows neck. Whether a cow lives or dies comes down to a vet trying to discern 1mm on a caliper (reactive vs non reactive). If a cow tests positive, the farm (already running on super thin margins) is quarantined and starts hemorrhaging money. Jeremy Clarkson’s cow (pregnant with twins) has an inconclusive test so it’s separated from the herd. It receives a second inconclusive test so they have to kill it (before it can give birth to the twins). Now here’s the kicker: the autopsy reveals no sign of TB. It was a healthy cow needlessly killed So - silver lining the farm should be removed from quarantine, right? WRONG - it’s still under quarantine and has to keep testing and can’t sell its beef Kafkaesque doesn’t even begin to describe how f’d up it is for British farmers