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Farm 999 Season 1 Episode 2
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00:00Farming is the most dangerous profession in the UK.
00:06Within seconds, the whole barn was alight.
00:10And farmers are increasingly under threat from criminal gangs.
00:14Police officer, show yourself now!
00:17This programme follows the emergency services.
00:20I wasn't entirely convinced the outcome was going to be brilliant.
00:23And dedicated rural crime units.
00:25You're looking at the result of organised crime.
00:28Working in the UK's most isolated communities.
00:32There's a tractor! You're revving a lot!
00:35From heroic rescues to deliberate attacks on animals and farms.
00:40All the trouble started five years ago, and each year it seems to get a lot worse.
00:45Stand by for a slice of rural life like you've never seen before.
00:51You don't think about farming then, you're just thinking, am I going to live or die?
00:56I'm Steph McGovern and this is Farm 999.
01:05Coming up...
01:06Firefighters and farmers tackle field fires in Bedfordshire.
01:11As raging flames destroy crops and threaten lives.
01:14We weren't sure whether there was anybody in the tractor at the time.
01:18Fire services in Leicestershire dive in to rescue a horse from drowning.
01:23My son lifted up the pool cover and said, Mum, there's a horse in the pool.
01:27And our reporter Paul Colgan is on the scene helping volunteers to protect badgers from being illegally killed.
01:36Here is the mother of one of her cops.
01:39She's not helping with the cop out so early.
01:46Right, let's get Farm 999 started then.
01:49First up, a large field fire which saw farmers and firefighters join forces to battle flames on what was already an incredibly hot day.
01:58A farmer filmed the whole thing and some of the footage is unbelievable.
02:12It's a hot summer's evening.
02:14Farmer George Saunders is rushing to help neighbours and firefighters tackle a field fire that's getting bigger by the minute.
02:21That's come right up.
02:24I've not seen a fire spread that quickly.
02:27It was scary.
02:28This was the largest field fire I'd taken charge of.
02:31I just hate .
02:33Absolutely devastating.
02:40It is Tuesday today and temperature has peaked at around 41 degrees.
02:46George Saunders regularly posts videos on YouTube.
02:50The one he put up in July 2022 would be one he'd never forget.
02:56The wind is really quite gusty today.
02:58I mean, it's like being in a fan oven.
03:01It was the hottest day of the year so far and George was about to discover a fire had broken out on a neighbour's field.
03:09We were about done for the day.
03:10The cows had just been milked.
03:11They were going out to graze and that is when we see the plume of smoke in the distance.
03:15The fire was spreading and threatening to reach the town of Sandy.
03:22Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue were called and Incident Commander Paul Barrows was one of the first officers on the scene.
03:30So when I arrived there was a fire in the clump of trees over in that direction there.
03:35It was a standing crop fire so the crop hadn't been cut by a combine harvester.
03:39The fire was moving very rapidly because of the high wind speeds.
03:42George's brother-in-law Richard had a dairy and wheat farm which was also under threat.
03:50He was getting increasingly anxious.
03:54One of my mates actually rang up and said, you've got a fire in your field up Sandy.
03:57That's when we went over and had a look to see what the situation was, how big the fire was, where it was.
04:03Yeah, that's come right up. A lot further than we anticipated.
04:08It was scary. I was praying that it didn't spread into our neighbour's fields.
04:15We could see the beginnings of a very big fire.
04:17With the speed of the wind and the heat and the standing crop the fire travelled a distance of in excess of two miles within about 30 minutes towards the railway line.
04:30I've not seen a fire spread that quickly before.
04:35You wouldn't want to be in its way anyway.
04:38We've got a chemical factory in one direction.
04:40We've got bed and breakfast properties in another.
04:43And ultimately we've got to consider the railway line that's behind me.
04:46With the fire growing in speed and ferocity, more appliances and crew began to arrive, including Group Commander John-Joe Peksic, who stepped in to take overall command.
05:00I'd made a request for 16 fire engines, which would then be approximately 80 firefighters.
05:06It was important to make sure that we had crews not just protecting the farm, not just stopping the spread of the fire, but obviously importantly protecting those homes and the town of Sandy, which is one of the larger towns we have.
05:15It's one of the larger towns within Bedfordshire.
05:18Other farmers, including George and Richard, bravely volunteered to help.
05:27As is always the way with farmers, when there's a crisis like that, all the local farmers come to help.
05:35We're unable to fight the fire directly because of its intensity and its strength.
05:40Therefore the tactical plan was about using fire breaks, which can slow the spread of it.
05:44We worked with the farm staff. By them utilising their ploughing equipment, you can put a fire break into a field fire.
05:51Although fire breaks would hopefully stop the fire from spreading, heartbreakingly it also meant over £180,000 worth of crops would be sacrificed.
06:02This is a farmer's worst nightmare.
06:05From a personal perspective, that's always disappointing because the farmers' crops are their property and their livelihood and obviously we would like to extinguish that as soon as possible.
06:14But on this day it just wasn't possible due to the strength of the wind.
06:16I don't know if it's got over the road and got to our beans over there or not, I would hazard a guess that it has.
06:24You spent all year growing a crop, looking after a crop, and this happens.
06:31As well as fire breaks, farmers delivered water to help dampen the ground.
06:38Richard's on a tanker, on a grass field, and he's putting a bit of water on there to keep that out of bay.
06:48The flames were terrifying, about ten, twelve foot high.
06:54Later, with more farmland on fire, it's a race against time as the flames close in.
07:07Time now to hear from our roving reporter Paul Colgan.
07:10He's been finding out all about Operation Brockwatch, a scheme to protect badger sets from illegal attackers.
07:18Badgers are under constant threat from badger baiting, an illegal blood sport that sees them hunted down and attacked by dogs.
07:38But across Northern Ireland, more than 30 sets like this one are now protected by secret cameras.
07:48I've come to, let's say, an undisclosed rural location, and the reasons for that will become clear very soon.
07:55I've come to talk to people who protect badger sets.
08:01Badgers are a protected species across the UK, and it is a criminal offence to disturb them or where they live.
08:08I'm here to meet Peter Clarke from the Northern Ireland Badger Group.
08:11OK, Paul, we're going to put this sign up over here so that it's visible to anyone coming in.
08:19Alongside the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, they are running a badger protection scheme called Operation Brockwatch.
08:28We have about 35 badger clans under protection now, and we have over 20 volunteers.
08:35So the signs are up warning people to stay away from the sets.
08:38Yes.
08:39What do you do next?
08:40We'll put up some cameras.
08:41So if they do go near the set, we will capture footage of them and send it straight to the police.
08:48Badger baiting is notoriously difficult to prosecute, and these cameras have the potential of gathering valuable evidence.
08:56But the main purpose of the scheme is prevention.
08:59So when badger baiters turn up at a set, what do they do?
09:02They'll put their dog in there with an electronic collar in it, and it'll go through all the tunnels until it finds a badger.
09:09When it bleeps and stops, then they dig straight down and they try to pull the badger out with the dog.
09:16And then they set larger dogs on it, and they stand around and laugh at the badger's anguish and pain.
09:23And if their dog doesn't live up to expectations, they'll kill it too.
09:27As well as protecting the sets from attacks, the USPCA monitor videos and photographs that badger baiters post online.
09:36Siobhan McAfee, the Director of Operations and Development, has brought along some videos to show me.
09:43This one shows the literal depth that people will dig into the ground to disturb a badger set.
09:50She also has a video taken by a farmer that led to a conviction.
09:54That farmer discovered some land being disturbed on his farm, and he went out to investigate.
10:02He disturbed them at what they were doing, which was digging a badger set and using their dogs to fight with the badgers.
10:10They fled but left this poor dog injured behind.
10:14You can see the trauma to its face there, it was just absolutely horrific.
10:18In this instance, some good came from it in terms of animal welfare protecting badgers.
10:24Yep, absolutely. This particular set is now under protection from the badger volunteers here.
10:30So, that's just fantastic to see.
10:32Hopefully, my work with Peter will make a difference too.
10:37With the cameras all positioned, he's arranged a treat for me.
10:41The cameras protecting another set have picked up a lot of badger activity this last week,
10:46so he's invited me along to share his hide and hopefully enjoy a show.
10:50All we can do now is sit and wait, very quietly, and hope that they'll come out when it's still light enough to see them.
11:01Did you see something?
11:07Something sort of moved. I'm waiting for it to move again.
11:15It was incredible to get even a small glimpse, and in previous nights, their cameras have picked up some amazing footage.
11:23Here is the mother of one of her cops.
11:25She's not happy with the cop out so early, so she'll take it back into the set, as you'll see.
11:30And that's this very set?
11:32Yes. That was last week.
11:34It's a real shame we didn't get to see that sort of action this evening,
11:39but thanks very much for showing us everything today, and fair play for all the work you're putting in to look after them.
11:44Look, thanks. They're worth it.
11:45An hour later, the badgers came out, all caught on Operation Brockwatches cameras, safe from badger baiters.
11:56Oh, it's amazing, isn't it, to see the badgers pottering round at night.
12:05Well, one of the team looking after them is here with me now, Maureen Carville, who is from Northern Ireland Badgers Group.
12:13Do you know what? First of all, thank you for looking after them, because, you know, they clearly need it, but it's such a shame that they need protecting.
12:19It is such a shame, but it's a real privilege to be able to do it and to actually see them in their natural habitat.
12:25So, Maureen, I've got to ask you then, what can we do to help protect badgers from harm?
12:31Be observant. If you're out in the countryside and you see something that just doesn't look right or sit right,
12:38men walking with dogs or with spades or things like that, doesn't look right, phone the police.
12:43Badgers and their sets both are protected by wildlife law, so it's a crime to either disturb badgers or disturb their sets.
12:51It's probably worth saying not to go and say anything to them yourself.
12:55No, don't challenge them yourself. Just go and report them.
12:58If you can, get a car registration. It always helps.
13:02And, of course, check out where your local badger group is and join them and support them. Volunteer with them, you know.
13:07You talk to kids about them as well, don't you? I do.
13:10Kind of an educational understanding of them.
13:13So, we have a taxidermied badger and the funniest thing is when you go into a school,
13:17kids aren't really taught that much about nature nowadays.
13:20And you'll go, right, who knows what this is? And you'll usually get, it's a skunk-mas.
13:26And I'm going, we don't have skunks here and it's American TV, that's what they see.
13:30So, you get the opportunity. It's a real privilege actually to be able to talk to kids and maybe just, you know, light that spark that somebody will go, right, let's look after these animals.
13:40It's a really important point that if we can teach people more about creatures like badgers, you instantly then want to protect them more, don't you?
13:48Yeah, you do. You need to have that connection with wildlife.
13:51You know, you want to get out and walk in the countryside and sort of feel it.
13:55It's a real tangible thing that you can see and you can sense there's about you.
13:59Yeah. I've got a five-year-old and she absolutely loves animals and she would love to look after badgers.
14:05I'm sure she would. What's your favourite thing about them?
14:08They come out of their sets at night, okay, so the first thing you see is their nose coming up because they sniff the air to make sure everything's okay.
14:14Yeah. They're just very contented and happy.
14:17Outside they're set, it's a lovely night, but then they sit down and they sit on their backsides and they have a good scratch and they scratch their belly and they've got these big long claws.
14:25That's like me watching telly.
14:29Well, there you go.
14:30Yeah. Oh, I love that. Well, thank you so much.
14:32My pleasure.
14:33I mean, you've painted that picture beautifully. We're all going to love badgers now.
14:36That's brilliant. You can join your local badger group.
14:38I can, thank you.
14:39Still to come on farm 999, that field fire in Bedfordshire. After hours of working in intense heat, the flames are still raging.
14:50Bloody scary.
14:52The flames were licking the side of the tractors.
14:54Now, our next story involves a horse and a swimming pool, and it's not the start of a joke. It's actually something that happens more often than you might think.
15:09A beloved family horse has been involved in a terrible accident.
15:25My son had lifted up the pool cover and he said, Mum, there's a horse in here.
15:31The horse can sometimes get to a point where it thinks, I've just had enough now and just give up.
15:36And the best thing for them sometimes is for the vet to actually put them to sleep.
15:46Hilary Butler is a part-time sheep farmer in Leicestershire.
15:50Come on.
15:51We've only been farming for three or four years, so it's pretty new to it and still growing.
15:55Tinkerbell, come on!
15:57But we've got about a hundred sheep, a handful that are about to lamb now.
16:02And the rest are weaned lambs that I buy at market.
16:07Now, jump in.
16:080223, Basil.
16:11Basil was my niece's horse.
16:13Very lovely, very kind for her to enjoy riding around the farm and also go to pony club.
16:18It was a cold, ordinary morning in February, but that was about to change.
16:26It was a school day, so I'd got up and I'd had two horses in the stables here.
16:30I'd fed them, mucked them out, done their hay.
16:32Then I'd gone back inside to make sure my son was eating his breakfast.
16:36And we were just about to leave and I'd shut the dogs in the garage at the back of the house.
16:41And all of a sudden, I could hear them barking quite ferociously.
16:45But then I thought, I better just check all the animals are safe.
16:48There were sheep in the paddock. I counted them.
16:51I had six dogs here. I counted them.
16:53Everyone was okay.
16:54And at the same time, my son had walked out of the kitchen, lifted up in the pool cover,
16:59and said, Mum, there's a horse in the pool.
17:02And that's when it all kicked off.
17:06Under the pool cover was Hillary's niece's much-loved horse, Basil.
17:12I thought he might drown because he was on his side.
17:14So I got in the pool and I put a head collar on him.
17:17Then I got out of the pool and I had a rope on it.
17:19And I just stood by the side of the pool, lifting his head out to make sure he didn't drown.
17:25At the same time, trying to ring the fire brigade.
17:28As I was sat there holding his head up, because he's my brother's horse,
17:31I took a picture and I said, look, we're in trouble here.
17:34And I accidentally, I don't know how I did it, I accidentally ended up on my Facebook reel.
17:39But I must have been, probably doing it with my left hand, panicked and done it.
17:43So people start then ringing me going, what on earth is going on at your place?
17:48And then I'm trying very hard to remove an accidental post that I didn't want anyone to see.
17:52And all the time trying to get hold of my brother.
17:55You know, a big tough man, but he was almost in tears, he was so worried.
18:00With the family pets stuck in the freezing water, emotions were running high.
18:05The fire service's technical team were on their way.
18:08Led by crew manager, Stephen Willett.
18:11When we arrived on the scene, the horse was in the swimming pool up to about its waist.
18:17The horse getting cold is one of our main concerns really,
18:20because obviously horses aren't built to be in water, especially in that time of year.
18:24It was February, it was very, very cold.
18:27I dread to think what would happen if the dogs hadn't barked and I hadn't been alerted to a problem.
18:34We did drain a bit of the water out, but not all of it.
18:37The noise from the pumps were distressing the horse a little bit.
18:40You know, it might be a nice, placid horse while it's in the field and that lot, but in this situation,
18:45safety of everybody else is paramount towards, and of course the horse.
18:49So we'll try and get the owner away from the horse so that if the horse kicks out or gets distressed
18:53and starts to try and bolt out of it, then obviously nobody's going to get hurt.
19:00With the help of some sedation given by Yvette, the team were ready to begin the difficult task
19:05of getting Basil out of the pool, aided by Hilary's friends, Lauder.
19:11The biggest hazard for us in that situation was the actual horse getting more stressed and kicking out
19:16or moving towards the operators as they were trying to rescue it.
19:22They very, very, very gently lifted him out with the loader, strapped up with his legs hanging
19:28and then reversed and just put him down very gently on the lawn.
19:35Once Basil was free, that's a great result for us, and it got checked out by the vet.
19:39Went into his little stable and had some hay, and he really enjoyed it.
19:45Basil recovered well, and last year, with Hilary's niece all grown up,
19:50he began a new role at a children's riding centre in Norfolk.
19:56Bria's loving Basil, aren't you?
19:58Thanks so much to Hilary for allowing us to have him.
20:01He's teaching lots of children to ride, he's got lots of fans,
20:05and there are certainly no swimming pools nearby.
20:11It's amazing, isn't it?
20:13What he's giving to people, he's amazing.
20:17He's a very special horse, made everyone very happy.
20:21And he's still making people happy, so that's wonderful.
20:23Oh, I think Hilary's right there. Basil really is amazing, isn't he?
20:33Well, with me now, I'm joined by Inga Daza, who is from Mountain Vet, star of the shore.
20:39And also, you're an equine vet, aren't you? So I imagine you have dealt with a fair few rescues in your time.
20:46In my time, yes. Probably about maybe three a year.
20:49And what types of things?
20:51You could have horses that maybe rolled in a stable and got their foot caught between bars and got stuck.
20:57Or they can end up in a drain or a ditch, or whilst competing, they can fall and get caught under a fence.
21:02Every situation must present different challenges for you.
21:06Without a doubt. And you always have the problem then of hypothermia, which is a real concern in horses.
21:13Now, in the footage, Basil is a cob and he's got a good bit of sort of coverage.
21:19But if that was a skinny thoroughbred, the hypothermia issue in both would be high of a concern.
21:26But more so in a thoroughbred.
21:28And that's just because they're thinner?
21:29Yes, they have less fat underneath the skin, they have thin skin.
21:34But horses do have this sort of weird shock response in a way, where they just go really quiet.
21:40You know yourself from being in a pool.
21:42If you stand still in cold water, you get cold really quickly.
21:46Whilst if you keep swimming, you'll stay warm.
21:49But horses will just kind of go into this apathy.
21:52And that makes the situation worse.
21:54So time becomes even more important then.
21:56Yeah, there's so much more to think about.
21:59There is.
22:00Someone like me might think, you know, I think, oh, you've just got to get the horse out.
22:03But it's not as simple as that at all.
22:05It's not as simple as that.
22:06Because also, you know, some people would maybe say, oh, well, just sedate it or even anesthetize it.
22:12And then it can't kick.
22:14Yes, it couldn't kick then, but you may actually speed up the hypothermia.
22:21It also then has to recover, which means it can't move for longer.
22:24So again, you can't get the temperature back up again.
22:28So, yeah, there's a lot of different things to think about before you make a plan or when you make a plan.
22:33And I bet you when you've achieved the kind of rescue and you know the horse is safe, that must be such a good feeling for you.
22:40Oh, it's amazing.
22:41When there are positive outcomes, it is amazing because sometimes they just literally kind of, you know, shrug it all off and sort of go, where were you for the last half an hour?
22:50You could have been here quicker and I want to go back to my feed and my grass.
22:54Oh, well, Inga, thank you so much. And I'm so relieved that you can stay calm in those situations that sound really stressful.
23:00Right. We're going to return now to Bedfordshire, where that field fire was threatening to get out of control.
23:06Farmers and firefighters were working together, but it looked like it was going to be a long night.
23:11A field fire is engulfing crops in Bedfordshire. Neighbouring farmers are applying fire bricks and spreading water.
23:30Local farmer and YouTuber George Saunders has filmed the whole incident.
23:38Bloody scary, to be fair.
23:40The flames were licking the side of the tractors, as close as we dare to get without risking the machines.
23:4780 firefighters had been scrambled to contain it, a mammoth task, in what was already a gruelling day across the county.
23:56The day which we've affectionately known as Hot Tuesday was an incredibly busy day for our service.
24:01We received nearly 300 calls, which is excessive volume for a small service such as ourselves.
24:07Officer Anthony Mason had just finished fighting a fire in the north of the county when he was deployed to Sandy.
24:15Due to the heat of the day and the fire that was being wind-driven, we were only able to manage 10 minutes worth of active firefighting, due to the fact that we were too fatigued and we had to withdraw.
24:27We had five minutes just to recuperate and then we decided to commit ourselves again onto the fire line.
24:37Obviously we have to put very heavy fire fighting kit on to protect ourselves and obviously then the heat of the flames makes it for a very hot experience, very tiring experience.
24:48I'm in shorts and t-shirt and it's 40 degrees and I'm sweating my **** off.
24:53You just want to get the job done, you just want to put the fire out, that's what drives you on.
24:58With fire crew working tirelessly, it suddenly became very apparent that local farmers were also risking their lives.
25:07Sorry for the language, I thought that was an old tree!
25:14I could see this area that was really ablaze.
25:18Initially I thought it was an old tree trunk that was on fire.
25:22It was only as I got nearer and nearer that I realised it was our neighbour's tractor.
25:28No, it's a tractor!
25:32Is that in the, oh, is that in the voucher is it?
25:35You were having a laugh!
25:38I couldn't believe it!
25:40So I picked up speed, got over there quick, to make sure we got out of the tractor.
25:44Oh my God!
25:46We weren't sure whether there was anybody in the tractor at the time.
25:50Obviously that was some cause of stress.
25:52He's up the top at the minute, so that's just how easy it can happen.
26:00Thankfully he'd got out, as I got there, the fire crews, they come over and put it out with their hoses.
26:07But of course by that time it was completely ablaze and was a total write-off.
26:13So that tractor would cost in the region of £150,000 to £170,000.
26:19A lot of money!
26:21After four long hours and with the brave help of the farmers, the team managed to put the fire out.
26:29Yeah, I'm ready for me tea. I think we're, everything's under control now, I think.
26:34It was a bit of a feeling of elation. You know, we'd beaten this fire and it was a massive fire.
26:39So we were just overjoyed.
26:44This particular fire took about four hours to get under control.
26:47Three of our firefighters had to be treated for heat exhaustion and required medical attention post fire.
26:54This field fire will certainly remain in my memory for a long time.
26:56This is one of the fastest and most aggressive field fires I've attended in my career.
27:01The next day, the full extent of the devastation was clear.
27:05A conservative estimate was that this fire encompassed a flame front of over 150 acres, which is over 150 football fields.
27:14When you've got a growing crop of milling wheat, for example, at the time that was selling for around £300 a tonne.
27:24All of the work that you've done for 10 months in order to get that crop to harvest, it was, you know, quite a horrible sensation.
27:34It's not just like your work, it's knowing you've missed out on the aim to feed the nation.
27:45Anyway, stay safe out there.
27:48It's been a bit of an emotional, long video, but, you know, no one's got injured or anything like that.
27:52So, ta-ta!
27:58Wow, what a night there.
28:00And serious respect for everyone involved in that brave and exhausting work.
28:06Well, we will see you next time for another dive into the fascinating and varied world of farms across the UK.
28:13Bye-bye.
28:22Bye.
28:23Bye.
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