(bright upbeat music) - [Narrator] In the heart of glorious North Yorkshire lies the quaint market town of Thirsk.

Here, the world's most famous vet, James Herriot, lived, worked, and wrote his best-selling books.

His former surgery and home are now a museum, but his practice lives on nearby.

(phone rings) - Good morning.

Skeldale Veterinary Centre.

- It's a great privilege, really, working in this practice.

And it very much is in the footsteps, really, of James Herriot.

(cage rattling) Makes me very proud, really, to be part of that heritage.

- [Narrator] Julian Norton is the Yorkshire vet.

- Ah-ha!

We have a wide range of different species that come in to see us, and that gives us a tremendous amount of satisfaction.

I don't think I'd have it any other way.

- [Narrator] Julian runs the practice alongside senior partner and former Herriot trainee, Peter Wright.

- [Julian] Everything's Yorkshire, isn't it?

- There's no finer view in England.

I've had a long relationship with the Herriot practice.

(horse teeth scraping) And I feel very privileged to work in the most famous veterinary practice in the world.

- [Narrator] Here, together with Skeldale's dedicated team, (cat yaps) they treat animals of all shapes- - Steady, Elsie!

(pig snorting) - [Narrator] Sizes- - [Peter] Go on!

- [Narrator] Types- - Oh, crikey!

Get it off me.

- [Narrator] And temperaments.

(pig squealing) (cat growling) - Oh!

- [Narrator] It's definitely not glamorous- (liquid squelching) - Oh, no!

- [Narrator] But it's varied.

- [Julian] And that goes back in there like that.

- You're a little bobby-dazzler, aren't you?

- [Narrator] It's rarely easy- - (laughs) A fast one.

- [Narrator] As the Yorkshire vet carries on the Herriot tradition, treating all creatures great and small.

(birds chirping) (bright upbeat music) (birds chirping) It's the height of summer in lush North Yorkshire.

As the countryside blooms, (tractor engine whirring) it's a time to make hay (birds chirping) while the sun shines.

(birds chirping) But for Julian, there's no time to take in the scenery.

(tense suspenseful music) His first call is an emergency.

- Today, I've been called out to one of our farms.

It's pretty tense and the farmer's very anxious because he's got a heifer who's standing around with froth coming out of her mouth.

And I know exactly what's on his mind.

He'll be thinking that this is a suspect case of foot-and-mouth disease, which he's had on this farm before 15 years ago, in 2001, when the UK was affected.

Thirsk was particularly badly affected, and it really was devastating for anybody connected with the livestock industry.

And in many ways, it ripped the heart, really, out of the community.

Farms just disappeared overnight, animals were killed, really, en masse.

We never knew quite what was gonna happen when we came into work.

It was terrible at that time.

Anything that looks vaguely suspicious of this brings immediate anxiety to everybody.

- [Narrator] As herdsman, Steve, remembers all too well.

- What's it doing then, this heifer?

- [Steve] Remember that Morris we had?

- Oh, yeah.

- With the swollen tongue?

Frothing, it's like ice cream.

It's quite bad, like.

- Yeah.

- It is really bad.

Like, her eyes are really sunken into her head.

(tense suspenseful music) - [Narrator] Mira was first spotted by farmer's son, Jack.

- I woke up this morning and I went to look round the cows.

She is frothing at the mouth and she's chewing her tongue, and you can see her tongue is just not right.

And her eyes are really sunken.

So the first thing I want to do is phone up Julian and just check what's happening.

So you can see she's not well.

(gate slamming) - [Julian] She looks very poorly, doesn't she?

Her eyes are sunken.

Good lass.

Steady, steady, steady, steady.

(shushing) (tense music) (cow groaning) - Cutting through her mouth.

(cow groaning) - Ooh.

(cow groaning) This doesn't happen every day, does it?

Like a proper rodeo.

Steady, steady, steady, steady.

Shall we fasten her up to that gate then?

Steady, steady!

Oh, God.

Any time we see a heifer in a field that's salivating profusely, we always fear the worst.

Her eyes have gotten all gooey, haven't they?

- That's the first thing I noticed.

- Foot-and-mouth, of course, in the worst thing that we could expect to see with this kind of set of signs.

(gentle sparse music) (birds chirping) - [Narrator] The waiting room sees its fair share of irritable animals.

(dog barking) (dog growling) - Oi!

- [Narrator] Maybe it's because they, like humans, know when something's not right.

(bird chirping) Like Peter's next patient, a grumpy Great Dane called Flora.

(door clunking) - Flora.

Well, we don't often see Flora.

- No.

- [Peter] What's the matter with her?

- [Narrator] She's been brought in by owner, Pauline.

- She was sat on the settee the other day, and I suddenly saw on her stomach a lump.

- [Peter] Oh.

So you don't know how long it's been there then?

I know you watch your dogs like a hawk.

- Yeah.

- So it's come up pretty quickly.

- But she hasn't been right.

So I've brought her down at the first opportunity.

- Right, Flora, come we have a look?

- [Pauline] Hold her head.

- Good girl.

Well done, Flora.

(dog growling) - [Pauline] Hey, hey.

That's enough.

Good girl.

- Yes, we've got like a breast cancer there, Pauline.

(gentle somber music) There's a mammary gland that's got quite a swelling there, thickening there.

It's not a mastitis, this, there's a mammary mass there.

A cancer in her mammary gland.

I think the best thing we can do for her is to remove that, Pauline.

- Yeah.

- Sorry, Flora, but you're going to have to stay with me.

We'll have her pre-meded and then we'll take her down, and we'll get rid of that, I think.

- [Pauline] Yeah.

- (inhales) We don't want to be leaving it.

- No.

Okay then.

- Right, okay.

Nip down to there.

Pauline is fanatical about her Great Danes.

She has six in the house and she watches them all very carefully.

She knows them all inside-out, and she would have spotted this if it had been there for any length of time.

So I'm pretty sure that this mass is aggressive and it's grown quite quickly.

- She's not her usual energetic self.

And looking at her face, she's not happy.

She's a bit down in the dumps.

I am trying me best to be positive.

I don't want to lose her.

She's five and she's my little girl.

Aren't you, sweetie?

She's very special.

(gentle somber music continues) - [Narrator] The first challenge for Peter's team.

- We'll knock her out on the floor, then we'll tube her, and then we'll lift her up onto the table.

- [Veterinary Assistant] Right.

Okay.

- [Peter] So we'll need plenty of hands.

- Yeah.

- [Peter] Come on, Flora, you have a bit of a rest.

(tense music) Try that.

- [Veterinary Assistant] Can we have some more hands?

- Okay.

Okay.

- [Veterinary Assistant 1] Watch that wound.

- [Veterinary Assistant 2] You get this end.

- That's lovely.

Right, if we can jack her up, up to the level of the trolley.

- [Veterinary Assistant] Got a bit of a sweat on me now!

- Big lass, Flora, aren't you, eh?

You're a big lass.

(razor buzzing) With the feel of this, I think this has grown pretty quickly.

I'm going to get straight on and get this thing removed 'cause I'm concerned that it is quite malignant.

So the sooner we get it off the better.

- [Narrator] Coming up.

- [Julian] Oh, look!

Bloody hell!

- [Narrator] Julian gets the shock of his life.

- [Julian] Bloody hell, no wonder she's drooling and salivating.

There.

- [Peter] Look at the size of that Brutus.

Whoa!

- [Narrator] What does the future hold for Flora?

- A mass like this, there's always potential for spread.

- [Narrator] And someone's getting jiggy- - You need to start screwing, as it were.

- [Narrator] With a piggy.

- Steady, Elsie!

(pig snorting) (tense suspenseful music) - [Narrator] Julian's been called out to a farm near Ingleby.

A young cow's showing symptoms of a terrifying disease, foot-and-mouth.

- It's quite bad, like.

- Yeah.

- It is really bad.

Like, her eyes are really sunken into her head.

- She looks very poorly, doesn't she?

Good lass.

Steady, steady, steady, steady.

Foot-and-mouth, of course, is the worst thing that we could expect to see with this kind of set of signs.

- [Narrator] Julian needs to get a closer look.

- When I went to get her from the field she was at the water trough.

- [Julian] Good lass.

And could she.... Oh, look!

Bloody hell!

She's got a big thorn stuck in her mouth.

(gentle thoughtful music) - [Jack] So, she has.

Yeah, you were right, Steven.

- There we are.

So that's a big piece of blackthorn.

They've got massive spiky thorns on, look.

And that'll have been sticking right inside her tongue.

Bloody hell, no wonder she's drooling and salivating.

The pain, obviously, would cause a lot of excessive salivation.

And the cow's reaction to anything in the mouth is to produce lots of saliva.

- There's a blackthorn hedge in that field, so she must have been just chewing on that.

- So this is a gag which goes in the back teeth and that stops her from closing her mouth.

Yeah, there's a big ulcer at the back of her mouth, actually, there.

So that'll be making it sore as well.

But I think that's all there is.

Poor old thing.

I'll give her some jabs.

She should pick up quite quickly.

- Good.

Could she go back out in the field?

- Yeah, as long as she doesn't get back into the hedges.

(laughs) (gentle thoughtful music) Once we've injected her and let her go, I'm sure she'll be feeling immediately better.

But, I mean, that's a first for me.

That's a whopper.

I've never seen anything quite as spectacular as that in a cow's mouth.

- So the plan is Julian's gonna give her some antibiotics, then she can go back in the field with the others.

(whimsical horn music) (gate clattering) - [Narrator] But Mira has other ideas.

- [Julian] She can't go out at the end, can she?

- [Steve] No, I don't think so.

- This is a young heifer and they've not been handled so much as older cows, and they're always more difficult to deal with.

Their first reaction is to try and escape, rather than comply.

Looks a lot better already, doesn't she?

- [Jack] A lot better.

A lot better.

- Uh-oh.

(cow groaning) So we tried to release it back into the field with its friends, and we didn't get the halter off in time.

It's gone all little slippery because of the saliva from her mouth.

Oh, no!

So she's escaped now with a halter fastened round her head.

Oh, God.

- [Narrator] Finally, Mira's back where she belongs.

- Oh, they're crazy animals.

(cow mooing) (gentle bright music) (birds chirping) (sheep bleating) - [Narrator] At Skeldale, Peter's about to remove a nasty lump from Great Dane, Flora.

- If we left it for some time, it will continue to grow.

And with any mass like this, there's always potential for spread.

So it doesn't matter whether it's humans or animals, the sooner these things are removed the better.

I've got to make sure that I give as wide a margin as possible so that we don't cut into any abnormal tissue.

And there are a couple of big blood vessels in here that I'll have to watch for as well.

So we've just got to get it just right really.

(tense thoughtful music) We're underneath the base of the tumor now, stripping it out.

One of the problems is large blood vessels because we'll just have a blood bath if we don't take this off, seal it off.

- The heart rate's stayed quite rapid but consistent throughout, so I'm happy with that.

- Oh, look at the size of that Brutus.

(inhales) Blood vessel.

Whoa.

(tense thoughtful music) Good.

And there's our mass removed.

So it's looking good.

That's gone very well.

The tumor, certainly, is better removed.

There's no reason why Flora can't make a complete recovery and get back to romping in the fields as normal.

- [Narrator] But there's one more mammoth task for Peter's team.

- Get her head so, actually, it doesn't fall out.

Bend your knees, not your backs, girls.

(group laughing) - Yes, Mom.

- [Vet] And don't laugh.

That makes it a lot harder.

(veterinary assistant clicking tongue) - [Peter] If Pauline rings, tell her it's gone well, and it may be a couple of hours before she can go home.

- [Veterinary Assistant] Yeah, yeah.

(bright suspenseful music) (dog barking) (phone ringing) - [Narrator] Sylvia Binks is one of the practice receptionists- - Good morning.

Skeldale Veterinary Centre.

- [Narrator] Making sure the many poorly pets that come through the doors get treated- - [Sylvia] Come on.

- [Narrator] On time.

- Come on.

No.

(laughs) - [Narrator] But Sylvia's also the surgery's head of cakes.

- Would you like some cake, sir?

A woman after my own heart, having a big piece.

(veterinary assistant laughing) Just don't eat that pink one, anybody.

(chuckles) - [Julian] Has that got your name on it?

- [Sylvia] Yeah.

Mm-mm-mm!

- [Narrator] And this year, she's cooking up a storm, in Borrowby Show's baking competition.

- You've been having a good time, I can tell.

Working at Skeldale at the moment is quite stressful because of the volume of traffic really.

She's waiting for someone to come show them X-rays.

- Ah, okay.

- You would have thought everybody would have gone away on holiday.

But no, everybody brings their children in and their dogs.

(all laughing) I like my weekends because I can set on and I can make a proper mess in here baking.

(laughs) I'm hoping I'll have a good chance this year.

I'm a bit tense today because I want everything to be perfect for the show.

I've got three entries.

A savory quiche.

It smells amazing.

Tastes pretty damn good, I have to say.

Four butterfly buns.

Haven't a clue how much to put in.

And the dreaded cake.

"Two small bananas, mashed, and two medium carrots, peeled."

Everybody gets the same recipe.

It's carrot and banana, which sounds absolutely vile.

Right, you're going in.

"Bake until golden and firm in the middle "and shrinking away from the sides of the tin."

That's it, folks.

We've just got to wait and see now.

You can't have any.

Right.

(gentle bright music) (birds chirping) - [Narrator] North Yorkshire bathes in summer sun, a soft breeze rustles through the crops, as hard-working farmers labor on the land.

(tractor engine whirring) This is the White Rose county in full bloom.

(bee buzzing) (birds chirping) But not all of Skeldale's patients come from Yorkshire.

(upbeat folk music) Sometimes they venture from across the border, Lancashire.

(feed rattling) (sheep bleating) - [Elizabeth] He can hardly run because he's so fat.

- [Narrator] Like Huckleberry the ram and his owners, Elizabeth and Malcolm.

- It's about 90 miles to travel over to Thirsk for us.

- [Elizabeth] We make it a lovely day out of going to the practice.

- [Narrator] And they've got enough animals to keep our vets over in Yorkshire busy.

(chickens clucking) - You're so beautiful, aren't you?

- They've got cats.

- Been catching mice?

(cat meowing) Aww.

Here, Minnie.

- [Narrator] Dogs, geese, chickens, (chickens clucking) and sheep.

(sheep bleating) - We love our animals, and we enjoy them and we get a lot back from them, and we wouldn't be without them.

- [Narrator] But their real red rose is their rare breed ram.

(sheep baas) - [Elizabeth] No, where's Huckleberry?

Wait a minute, girls.

You're not having any yet.

- These are his favorite treat, rich tea biscuits.

- [Elizabeth] And we need them for our secret weapon.

- [Malcolm] Come on.

(biscuits clattering) (sheep baaing) Come on, Huck!

(Elizabeth laughing) (sheep bleating) - He's a spoiled boy, like him.

(both laughing) Huckleberry is a three-year-old registered Soay ram.

And we've had him since last November.

And we wanted to put him to our girls to breed, and it's been very successful.

They've produced 17 lambs.

But we don't want to breed from him at the moment, do we?

- No.

- But we want to keep him.

- We want to keep him.

- Because we've fallen in love with him and he's such a character.

Come on, Huckleberry!

- [Malcolm] Oh, we love him.

We love him, yeah.

He's just a lovely ram.

And this is why we want to have him castrated now, rather than keep him separate and isolated, because that's not natural.

(sheep bleating) - [Elizabeth] I think he likes his job.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) - I think he enjoys his work.

- He enjoys his work.

- [Elizabeth] Come on.

- [Malcolm] The sheep that we've got now are his daughters and he would then start serving them, and we'd get a lot of inbreeding.

And that's one thing we want to avoid.

- [Elizabeth] So he's going after Peter at Skeldale.

They've advised us- - To have his manhood removed.

- And then he'll be able to live happily ever after with his girls without causing any problems.

- Problems.

(sheep bleating) - [Narrator] Peter will have his hands full.

(sheep bleating) (birds chirping) (bight whimsical music) Back at the practice, 13-year-old Ben has brought in one of his pet rats.

- I brought in Bubble because he's got a large cyst on his side which is quite big and I'm scared that it's gonna pop.

It keeps, like, expanding and then disappearing.

Sometimes it can be bleeding.

Sometimes it can have a bit of puss around it.

I thought, at first, it might be cancer because they are very prone to cancer.

It just kept growing and growing.

But Squeak has been helping him through it.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Squeak is Ben's other pet rat.

- [Ben] Go on, eat some food.

- [Narrator] Just weeks ago, he brought him in to see Julian.

- Oh, whoops.

440 grams, which is quite a lot for a little rat.

- [Ben] Yeah, yeah.

- Hello.

- [Narrator] He's now concerned about what Bubble puts in his mouth.

- He's a biter.

Oh, he does bite!

(both laughing) Hey, you're not supposed to bite!

Help!

(laughs) - Bubble is quite a feisty little rat.

I'm scared that he will bite Julian because I put my finger in the other day and I got a bite in there.

But I have had a lot worse.

So I don't know how he's gonna react to Julian.

- [Julian] Ben, do you want to come through?

Hi, there.

So what's this rat called?

- Bubble.

- Bubble.

Not in a very good mood, are you, Bubble?

- [Ben] It started off as a cyst.

- [Julian] Oh, gosh!

- [Ben] I know.

- [Julian] That's horrible.

That's a tumor that is.

- Oh, no.

- You can see it's red, it's ulcerated.

This is a nasty cancerous lump.

That's horrible.

- [Ben] Is that able to be removed?

- Yeah.

We'll basically cut that off and then stitch him back together, and that should give him his best chance.

That will grow and it will progress and it will spread, probably, around his body if we don't get it off quickly.

(rat squeaks) Whoop.

Sorry, Bubble.

We'll give him some gas and then I'll give you a ring when we're done.

- Right.

Okie-doke.

- Is that all right?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- [Julian] All right, then, ratty, you come with me.

- [Ben] Good luck, little rat.

- [Julian] Okay.

Thanks, Ben.

I'll give you a ring when we're done.

- [Ben] All right, thank you.

- [Narrator] As Ben calls home to talk to his parents- - Going in surgery now.

- [Narrator] Julian preps Bubble for the risky procedure.

- So this is like an anesthetic chamber where gas goes in there, and it slowly but surely sends Bubble to sleep.

Getting him asleep and getting him through anesthetic is as big a job as taking the lump itself off today.

Rats are obviously small animals, they metabolize the anesthetic very quickly, and they've not got a lot of body mass which makes them more risky than other animals when they're under anesthetic.

Well done, ratty, are you ready?

- I'm very worried.

I'm scared that I'll never get to see him again.

(gentle thoughtful music) (pig snorting) - Coming up.

- We're gonna this, aren't we?

- [Narrator] Julian helps a local farmer- - Hmm!

Nearly!

- [Narrator] Get a pig pregnant.

- That actually mimics a boar's penis.

The whole length of it is curly, actually, like that.

- [Narrator] Peter's Yorkshire team- - [Peter] Magnificent horns, aren't they?

- [Veterinary Assistant] Mm.

- [Narrator] Takes on Lancashire's finest.

And will Bubble pull through?

- With these things, you never quite know what you're gonna be up against until you get in there.

(gentle upbeat music) (birds chirping) (razor buzzing) - [Narrator] Julian's in surgery, removing a cancerous lump from pet rat, Bubble.

- Well, it doesn't look a very nice kind of growth to have attached to your tummy.

It's red, it's hard, it's ulcerated as well, and it's grown quite rapidly, which are all features of a malignant growth.

So it clearly needs to come off.

(gentle tense music) With these things, you never quite know what you're gonna be up against until you get in there.

Surgery like this can be quite difficult.

It's always fiddly because it's so small.

It's quite important that we do the surgy quite efficiently and quite quickly without spending an awful lot of time kind of faffing around because the shorter we can keep the anesthetic the better.

It's actually attached a bit more deeply than I was expecting to the muscle layer.

Cut it off already, which is encouraging.

It's all come off cleanly.

I think Ben'll be really pleased when we're out of the anesthetic, and I'll give him a ring as soon as we're done.

(gentle pensive music) I've finished the operation.

I'm just tidying up the wound.

Well, at the moment, Bubble's still feeling quite sleepy.

It's hard to know what goes on through an animal's head when he's coming out of an anesthetic.

Confusion must be the biggest sentiment.

I'll pop him back in there.

He's beginning to come round.

And then I'm gonna give Ben a ring straight away 'cause I know he'll be very worried and anxious to know what's happened.

Oh, hi, Ben.

- Hello.

- Hi, it's Julian here.

We got the lump off completely.

He's just coming around from his anesthetic now.

- Bye.

- Cheerio, bye.

Ben was delighted, actually, to hear the news.

He was pretty attached, obviously, to his rat and he was waiting by the phone, and he's coming down pretty much straight away.

He was chomping at the bit.

- Hello.

- Hi, I'm here to pick up my rat.

- Okay.

- [Narrator] Ben's back with best friend, Jake.

- After I dropped Bubble off, I went to play with a mate to keep me concentrated off Bubble.

I have been thinking about Bubble.

- He's come round really well.

I'm sure Ben's excited to see him as well, so I'll go and take him out to him.

(upbeat music) Hello!

- How is he?

- Here he is.

He's fine.

He's absolutely fine.

He's come round really nicely.

So he has got stitches in there and they need to come out in 10 days' time.

Any problems at all just give us a ring.

- I will do.

- All right?

- I feel very relieved now I've got Bubble back.

I am a bit worried about the cancer spreading.

But I have to come back to have the stitches taken out, so, hopefully, I can ask Julian then.

(lively horn music) - [Narrator] Not far from Thirsk, it's Borrowby Show.

- [Announcer] Ring three, the horses.

- [Narrator] As well as competitions for some of North Yorkshire's finest farm animals, (cow mooing) Skeldale receptionist, Sylvia- - [Sylvia] Good morning.

- [Narrator] Is also hoping to scoop a prize or two.

- [Sylvia] Ta-da!

- [Narrator] She's made fairy cakes.

- I brought five, in case one got damaged in transit.

- [Narrator] A quiche.

- [Sylvia] I am eyeing up the competition, and there's some bloomin' good ones this time.

- [Narrator] And finally, the dreaded carrot and banana cake.

- Oh, that looks nice as well.

(tuts) I don't think the Bink cake's going to win.

- [Narrator] With all the entries in, time for the judges to do what judges do.

(playful horn music) - [Judge] With a cake, most of the points would be for flavor.

Mm.

Quite a lot of them are not quite cooked in the center.

Right, it's going to be between those three.

- [Narrator] The results are in.

- [Sylvia] All right, we'll have to come and see how we've done.

- [Narrator] For moral support, Sylvia has brought along granddaughter, Poppy.

- So we better go along and see what the quiche is doing, yeah?

Oh, nothing.

(gasps) Disappointment all round.

Uh-oh, didn't get anything.

Right, let's see.

Cake, cake, cake.

Ooh, we've got third.

Oh, good.

I'm pleased with that.

Yeah, good.

Shall we go and see what else we've done, if anything?

Yeah?

Come on then.

We'll go and see what the buns have done.

(gasps) Oh, my gosh!

Look!

It says first!

Get in!

Oh, how lovely!

We've got first.

Yes.

Look at that.

Your buns have got first!

(laughs) Fantastic!

(gentle music) (birds chirping) - [Elizabeth] There you are, Huckleberry.

Have your Polos.

Good boy.

- He's a good boy.

Yeah, you're beautiful.

- [Narrator] At the surgery, it's a big day for Huckleberry the ram from Lancashire.

- I think he's a bit apprehensive, wondering what we're going to do with him.

- [Narrator] Owners, Elizabeth and Malcolm, have brought him more than 90 miles across the border to North Yorkshire.

- It took us about 2 1/2 hours.

So it wasn't too bad.

It's because we trust Peter.

- [Narrator] But Huckleberry probably doesn't.

He's about to be castrated.

- (laughing) He's pretending he's eaten your hand.

- He's apprehensive really.

It's a big thing to have done and we feel a bit guilty, to be honest.

- We do.

And he's so lovely.

If we want to keep him, we want him to run with the flock.

But we don't want to keep him locked up.

So it seems to be the best of- - [Malcolm] The best thing to do for him.

- To do.

I have a lot of sympathy for him, where I probably wouldn't have the same for him.

(laughs) I've got to be honest, haven't I?

(both laughing) Me animals come first.

- Oh, yes.

Definitely.

- Morning.

- Good morning!

- Good morning.

- How are you?

- Fine.

- We're fine, thank you.

How are you?

- Nice to see you.

- Nice to see you.

- We are fine, and he's fine, but he doesn't know what's happening.

(chuckles) - He's a fine chap, in't he?

- He is a fine chap.

- I know.

- [Peter] I just wanted to have a look at the size of his testicles before we start because that might dictate what I do.

- [Elizabeth] Mind your head.

(chuckles) - Good lad.

Good lad.

(ram clattering) Whoa!

Good.

Well, Huckleberry, you won't be needing those anymore, will you?

They're only a nuisance to you now.

- [Narrator] First job, a sedative.

(light whimsical music) - Now, I want you to get nice and sleepy now, Huckleberry.

He's certainly quite endowed.

- [Malcolm] Yes, yeah.

- [Peter] We'll give that another 10 minutes, give that chance to take effect.

- [Narrator] And a bit of TLC from Malcolm.

- [Elizabeth] Yeah, he likes that.

Good boy.

He's going too.

(laughing) - You don't want him doing while he's here?

- Well, you know.

(laughing) (Peter laughs) - So long as you know which one you're doing, Peter.

(group laughing) - [Narrator] Huckleberry is ready for surgery.

- [Peter] That's it.

- [Narrator] And there's no time to waste.

- Good.

- Right.

We'll leave you to it then.

- [Peter] Come back in an hour.

- [Narrator] Assisting Peter, are Zoe and Rachel.

- Magnificent horns, aren't they?

Aren't they beautiful?

Absolutely beautiful.

Can I start?

- Yeah.

(gentle suspenseful music) - [Peter] Okay at your end?

- [Veterinary Assistant] Yeah.

- There we go.

There we go.

Right, what we've got to do now is tie off the blood supply.

That's good.

Would you get me a kidney dish, Rach, please?

Is he stable?

- Seems to be.

- We'll proceed to the second testicle.

(gentle suspenseful music continues) I'm pleased that he's going to live in idyllic retirement, really.

They're lovely people that own him, and they just want him to just have a nice time, really.

But they don't want to continue producing lambs.

He could potentially be still fertile for several weeks.

His testicles produce testosterone which gives him the urge, that needs to drop in his bloodstream.

- [Veterinary Assistant] We'll get him switched off.

- Yep.

I think he'll be pretty comfy in his caravan on the way home, with his mints.

I think it's good that he has a nice life ahead of him really.

There you are, me old mate.

What do you reckon?

- Oh!

A bit traumatic but we're glad it's over with.

- [Peter] He's with it now.

- [Elizabeth] Are you okay?

- [Peter] I'm happy with him now.

He's got his reflexes there.

He's got his swallowing reflexes.

- [Narrator] For this Lancastrian, it's back across the border.

- He'll go back to his young ladies and tell them of his experience.

(gentle thoughtful music) (gentle bright music) (birds chirping) - Come on, come on.

(cow mooing) How many cows can you do that with?

You almost play with them.

They're so friendly.

(cow mooing) - [Narrator] On the outskirts of Thirsk, lives rare-breed farmer, Chris Jeffrey.

(cow mooing) - We don't have a huge amount of land, but what we don't have in land we make up for with passion.

Now then, children, teatime.

- [Narrator] Chris and wife, Kate, are most passionate about pigs.

(pigs snorting) - I've always had pigs.

They're just lovely animals, and just nice to be around.

- [Narrator] Chris is hoping his prized pedigree pig, Elsie, is ready for the pitter-patter of tiny trotters.

- With Elsie, you could go into her and just rub her tummy and she'd lay down for you, and just be so content, so happy.

What we want to do is to use artificial insemination on her because she's a rare breed animal.

She's an Oxford Sandy and Black that were nearly extinct 20 years ago.

And there's only about 300 breeding females left in the world, so it's quite important that we try and maintain the bloodline.

So we've ordered semen to come from the stud.

And so that's ready for Julian to, hopefully, work his magic today.

(upbeat whimsical music) - The main part of my visit today is to inseminate the pig.

And that's not something that we do every day in this practice, but it's a reasonably involved process.

- This is how you test if they're actually on heat, in season.

If she takes pressure to the back, she thinks that's the boar.

But she's nearly there.

I'm not making it up, this is how you test whether a pig's on heat.

(pig snorting) - It's a strange kind of thing to be doing, and it's a strange conversation to have in the pub with your friends.

And it always causes a great deal of amusement.

- Yeah, "We're not quite ready," she says.

But, hm, nearly.

- [Narrator] In the next pen, helping Elsie to get in the mood, is Pete the boar.

- He's doing his job 'cause he's chatting her up, look.

Because of the way he looks and the way he smells.

It's a smell more than anything, it just helps her to come into season.

(pig snorting) - [Narrator] Sadly, for Pete, as he's not the right pedigree, he won't be producing piglets with Elsie.

- It always helps to have a boar near.

But he is a Pietrain boar and he's not what I want to use on this particular sow.

(pig snorting) I think it's really, really important that we help these rare breeds and the bloodlines keep going.

Some of the animals we have are actually rarer than the giant panda.

(pig snorting) (bright upbeat music) - [Julian] Oh, steady.

Is that a randy pig I see?

It's wagging its tail.

And that's a randy pig if ever I saw one.

You all right, old girl?

(pig snorting) Morning.

- Good morning.

- Everything looking good today?

- Looking great, yeah.

We have a boar in a box.

(Julian laughing) This arrived through the post this morning just for you.

- Excellent.

(group chuckling) It's pretty watery, isn't it, boar semen?

The semen that we using will have come from a boar on a pig's stud, where the boar's who, literally, just their whole remit in life is to provide samples of semen.

But boars are interesting.

Their ejaculate volume is copious.

It's way more than other animals.

So it's literally like, you know, more than a mug full.

(pig snorting) (upbeat whimsical music) Thank you.

- I'll go and be the teaser boar.

- Okay.

This is where the fun starts, Elsie.

(pig snorting) (rat squeaking) - [Narrator] Still to come.

- [Julian] Come on, Bubble.

- [Narrator] Ben's worried.

- Is there a possibility that the cancer may come back?

- [Narrator] And Julian- - [Julian] Oh!

(spits) - [Narrator] Has a nasty taste in his mouth.

- Was not expecting that to happen.

(pig snorting) (gentle whimsical music) (birds chirping) - [Narrator] On a local farm, Julian's artificially inseminating Elsie, a pedigree rare breed.

- You've lost your technique, Chris.

- [Chris] I have.

(pig snorting) - [Julian] Try massaging her shoulders first, that sometimes works.

- Well, I can get her to stand here.

(pig snorting) It's just mimicking the boar being on her, really.

- Is that all right?

You can see Pete's looking on with a bit of disappointment, I think.

(pig snorting) That actually mimics a boar's penis.

The whole length of it is curly, actually, like that.

And that goes right in.

So is she ready?

- [Chris] We're ready.

- You ready, Elsie, for this?

So this is the moment of truth as to whether she really is ready.

Chris is keeping her happy on that end, as it were, and I'm going in this end.

- [Chris] How we doing?

- Good, we're in.

When you reach the cervix, and that's when you need to start screwing, as it were.

So that's now locked in the cervix.

It's not coming out.

So that's right in.

- Good girl.

- And the best thing, really, for everybody concerned is that Elsie's happy with this.

And she's standing comfortably and quite happily, I think.

(liquid spurts) Oh.

(spits) Was not expecting that to happen.

I just took the top off with my teeth, to save using my other hand, and it all spurted out.

Not what I was expecting.

So that's all gone in.

And then that just goes on there.

Oops!

Spilt a bit all down my trousers.

(chuckles) Once that's in, we'll just fairly gently squirt this in.

Oops.

Steady, Elsie!

Steady, Elsie, we're not quite finished.

Steady, steady.

Do you think that was her telling us that she'd rather have- - The natural thing.

- [Julian] (chuckles) The natural thing.

(upbeat folk music) - Come on.

- Steady, Elise.

Do you think she'd prefer to stand there with Pete to keep her company?

(pigs snorting) Come on, Elsie.

Oops!

(upbeat folk music continues) It is going in quite well, this, actually, as long as we can keep her happy like that.

I think being served by artificial insemination is not quite the same as being served by a handsome boar like Pete.

Right, so we're all in now.

Now we just need to unscrew her and then... (pig snorting) There we are.

Inside her now there's a bottle full of semen, and hopefully, that will be sperm making the way to her egg, which will then lead to a pregnancy.

(pig snorts) I think next time I'm doing this job I'll not tear the lid off the bottle with my teeth.

(pigs snorting) - [Chris] What do you think, Pete?

It's a funny old life, innit, eh?

(bright gentle music) (birds chirping) - [Narrator] Back at the practice, (dogs barking) it's business as usual.

- There you go, Flora.

I don't think she's going to.

- [Narrator] After having her cancerous lump removed- - [Peter] Good.

I'm quite confident we have got it all.

- [Narrator] Grumbling Great Dane, Flora, is back with owner, Pauline.

- The wound's very very clean.

Nicely opposed.

Yep, there is some fluid.

I was expecting a bit.

But I'm happy with that.

Very happy.

- Oh, cheer up, miserable.

(dog growling) - Flora, I just said I'm very happy.

But you're not very happy, are you?

(both laughing) (Flora growling) (ben laughing) - [Narrator] Ben and his best mate, Jake- - Ben, why don't you come too?

- Hello, Julian.

- Hello.

- [Narrator] Have brought in Bubble, who had a nasty tumor removed from his side.

- [Julian] It's all come off cleanly.

See, that looks excellent.

I mean, considering how enormous it was before.

- [Ben] Yeah.

- [Julian] So we'll take those out now.

That's healed really nicely.

- Is there a possibility that the cancer may come back?

- [Julian] There's a possibility, as with all kind of cancers.

But we got onto this quite quickly.

I think you'd obviously spotted it in the early stages, and it came off nicely, there was nothing left in there.

So I think, in this case, I would see that as a cure, yeah.

- [Ben] Okie-dokie.

(rat squeaking) - Last one, Bubble.

Got you.

Hopefully, we won't need to see him again.

Although, it would be nice to see him again if you ever want to bring him in just to say hello.

- [Ben] I will, definitely.

- Very good, thank you.

- Thank you.

- Cheerio, nice to meet you.

- Thanks, Julian.

Bye.

- [Julian] Bye.

- I'm extremely happy.

I am going to take Bubble home and he might not ever have to come back to the vet again, which he'll be very happy about.

- A happy rat and a happy young man.

- Bye.

- Bye.

- [Julian] So that's the best outcome that we can hope for.

(dog yelps) - Next time.

- Oh, dear.

- [Narrator] Can Fern, a much-loved pet, be saved?

- [Julian] That's about 10 times as big as it should be.

If we didn't do this operation then she would almost certainly die.

(airplane engine whirring) - I've got an appointment with fear.

- [Narrator] Peter's flying high.

- Wow, this is fantastic.

- [Pilot] It's a good view, in't it?

- [Peter] Oh, it's fantastic.

- Don't go anywhere.

Will you wait there?

- [Narrator] And can Julian out-fox a flock of feral felines?

- You almost get the feeling that they're just kind of laughing at us, don't you?

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) (bright gentle music)