Plot

The day of the Council's decision on Jeremy's restaurant arrives.

The TB test results are in. Dilwyn tests for lumps in the skin where he injected the tuberculin bacteria. If the cows are positive, the skin would have reacted and would have lumps in it. All the cows test negative. Jeremy is relieved. It is mid-winter. The pregnant cows are about to give birth and the West Oxfordshire District Council will decide on Jeremy's restaurant application.

Jeremy receives a letter from the planning commission that says that Jeremy's farm shop is in contravention of the local rules. The rule is to sell produce from the farm or from 16 miles radius around Jeremy's farm. They list many items in the farm shop that are not sources locally. Stuff like Arabica coffee, hats and t-shirts (which are made in Vietnam), farm tools (which are made in China) and so on. This is the last warning to get things right before the commission enforces their decision. Charlie says that Jeremy and Lisa need to fix the farm shop else that could impact their restaurant application with the commission.

There are a lot of comments from local highways, police and the planning commission on Jeremy's application. The police want the restaurant to have cycle theft prevention measures installed. The planning commission would want to see proper drainage measures installed to prevent floods, even though the site is miles from a river and 800 feet above sea level.

The Heifers give birth. Jeremy shares that eating half a cow has the same environmental impact as one person flying to Australia. Jeremy has 3 calves now. He has a few more births coming up, but wants to film them. So he goes to StowAg to buy devices which warn you that a birth of a calf is imminent. This is Jeremy's favorite shop in the whole world. Jeremy buys the Moocall device. It is installed on a cow's tail and when it is about to give birth, it sends a text message.

Meanwhile fertilizer prices have gone up to 675 pounds per ton from 275 pounds per ton. Putin attacked Ukraine and that drove up energy prices. Jeremy has to install a high tech alarm system to protect his 30,000 pounds worth fertilizer. The device detect movement, blare a siren and blow their smoke canisters.

Jeremy is getting message on the H5N1 influenza virus, which can threaten his hens. So he gets Mr and Mrs Cackleberry for advise, who helped him install the mobile hen-houses. To prevent this from spreading to Diddly Squat, the birds will have to be locked away for 3 months. The Cackleberry's ask Jeremy to provide a proper bed and radio for the hens in their indoor shed.

Kaleb triggers the fertilizer alarm system as he didn't know it was installed. That night the cow gives birth, and the trigger device works and Jeremy is able to film it. But the cow has difficulties and Kaleb calls in Dilwyn. The calf is huge and takes much longer to pop out and Dilwyn has to use a birthing jack to help the cow complete the birthing process. It's a girl and Jeremy has 5 heifer calves now. If Jeremy had not installed the trigger device, they would have lost the calf.

Jeremy calls in his butcher to figure out how much meat he can get from each cow. They calculate that each cow can feed 986 people. But Jeremy has 2 cows to butcher and 60 seats at the restaurant, which means 120 people per day. So his beef supply would last for 16 days. Jeremy has to source beef from other local farmers of the area. The local farmers need the restaurant even more and are happy to provide vegetables, pork, geese, potato and other supplies.

UK farmers are edged out by cheap EU imports and the supermarkets dictate the prices, so they don't get the proper price for their investments. They only pay 1/3rd for the wonky looking vegetables when it costs exactly the same to grow as the beautiful looking ones. The local dairy farmer Emma needed the restaurant as her hard was ravaged by TB. Without the restaurant, she would have to give up the business. Jeremy gets the farmers to form a cooperative.

The next morning Jeremy and Kaleb birth another calf who went into distress in its mother's womb. 6 calves are born successfully and 4 heifers. The Council Planning Meeting takes place on January 10th. Most of the authorities support the plan for the restaurant. The main objection is coming from a local Hamish Dewar who has become Jeremy's nemesis. Hamish has reported that Jeremy plans to develop a restaurant on 2 million square meters of land, which is factually incorrect. The all important planning committee meeting starts. Hamish's lawyer states that Jeremy purposefully erected the lamb shed, to later convert it into a bar and restaurant. He had no intention of rearing lamb in the shed more than once. Jeremy makes the case that the local farmers need the restaurant to overcome the loss of EU farming subsidies. Now the councilors debate. The naysayers hinge on the harm to Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the extra lights from the restaurant will block the pristine night sky view. The matter is put to vote and the application is refused. Common sense lost that day.