This Farming Life

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Factual: Life Stories

Documentary following the struggles and triumphs of very different farming families.

Documentary series following the struggles and triumphs of very different farming families in beautiful and remote landscapes.

Series 4

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James Thornton

Fiona Wilson

Jo Roe

This Farming Life: Series 4: Episode 9

Episode 9

BBC Two - This Farming Life, Series 4, Episode 9

Spring arrives on the farms, and there’s love in the air at Split Rock Croft.

It’s a bumper lambing season for Matt and Dani. Emma and Ewan struggle with John Jo, their Whitebred bull, and there’s love in the air at Split Rock Croft.

Spring arrives on the farms - the season of new beginnings and spring lambs, when the hard months of winter finally begin to pay off.

In the Lake District, Matt, Dani and Murray have their hands full. They are expecting over 1,100 lambs over the next six weeks, and while they are still setting up the lambing shed, some early lambs make an unscheduled appearance. Later, when vet Dani discovers one of their Texel ewes is struggling in the second stage of labour, she steps in to perform an emergency c-section, just two weeks after having her own c-section to give birth to son James.

In Northumberland, shepherdess Emma Gray and firefighter husband Ewan are preparing for the Whitebred Shorthorn pedigree bull sale in Carlisle. To sell as a stock bull, John Jo, their four-year-old bull, needs to be shown off in the sales ring as biddable and good natured - but with just 10 days until the auction, he’s still not fully halter trained. Tensions run high on the day of the sale, as Ewan struggles to keep John Jo under control.

On the Stoer Peninsula in the north west Highlands, Helen and Graham’s Gloucestershire Old Spot Sow, Miss Piggy, is waiting to be matched with a new suitor. In true crofting tradition, Graham borrows a boar from a neighbouring croft, and it’s not long before Butch and Miss Piggy are getting down to business. Later, when Graham discovers the pig house destroyed, he realises Butch may have been a little overzealous.

In Cumbria, father and daughter team Frank and Georgia are nearing the end of the birthing season for their 120 goats. With some of the kids now a few weeks old, it’s time for disbudding - a difficult but necessary job to stop injury from horns within the dairy herd. Their local vet, Ben, takes on the task.

This Farming Life: Series 4

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Following the ups and downs of six farming families in Scotland and the north of England.

Following the ups and downs of six farming families in Scotland and the north of England as they face up to one of the toughest years for farming to date.

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This Farming Life

Series 4

Episode 9

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