Tom drops a new bombshell: Bridge Farm without cows. Darrell turns nocturnal.

Radio Times: Tom is full of surprises. Meanwhile Darrell refuses to talk.

Characters: Darrell, David, Elona, Helen, Pat, Pip, Tom, Tony

• It’s one o’clock in the morning and Darrell is only just coming home but for Elona, who has been worried and has waited up, there is no explanation.
• Surprised to find his son doing the milking instead of Pip, Tony brings him a cup of tea. Tom has already got cracking with his ‘welfare friendly but not organic’ pork meals. Now, he informs his father, he has another idea to discuss. Should Tony be worried?
• The party animal returns home to a hostile reception and news of the dead ewe and lambs. David leaves Pip in no doubt about what he thinks of her performance as a stock woman; she knows the signs; the ewe must have been suffering for a couple of days and the lambs have starved to death. Her carelessness is costing them money; he and her mum are so disappointed in her.
• Sell the herd? Is Tom out of his mind? Nobody saw that coming but that is his latest ‘hair-brained’ idea. Needless to say the idea is not well received but Tom appeals to them to at least give it some thought – step back and look at it objectively: buy in the milk that they need – best quality organic milk – and save all the work and cost of running the herd themselves. Helen is prepared to consider the idea, though she does later chastise Tom for not mentioning it to her before springing it on them all. Pat and Tony hate the idea.
• Back from The Laurels, Elona still gets no satisfactory explanation – certainly not a truthful one – about why Darrell came home so late and in such a state.