Jeremy Clarkson suffers sleepless nights after ‘gut-wrenching’ loss on Diddly Squat Farm

'Like a hot cricket ball in the pit of my stomach'

The former Top Gear presenter previously broke down in tears during an episode of his Amazon Prime Video show after sending his sheep to the abattoir for the first time.

And it seems those pangs of distress weren't just a one-time thing.

Writing in The Sunday Times the 62-year-old described his heartbreak at having to give up seven of his male pigs in recent weeks, a decision he said was "gut-wrenching" and caused him to have sleepless nights, as he thought about his pigs' fate after leaving his Cotswolds farm.

“I can never sleep properly 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 wrote.

“And then when it’s finally time to say goodbye, I always become a little bit unmanly.

“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.

“But it’s not easy, taking seven happy, healthy pigs from their woodland home to their deaths.

“Especially as pig prices are currently so low I’ll almost certainly end up making a loss on the transaction.”

After farewelling his pigs, more heartache awaited Clarkson, the Mirror noted.

While his female pigs were due to welcome piglets, one pig accidentally killed tens of her babies after giving birth.

The pig was later nicknamed Clumsy by Clarkson and his partner Lisa Hogan, after she sat on two of her 10 piglets, leading to all of the deaths.

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