WINTER On the Farm host Helen Skelton announced that her co-star David “Dave” Nicholson had welcomed a new grandchild to the family.
Helen, 40, confirmed The Yorkshire Vet star Dave, 53, was missing from the birth of a highland cow as he witnessed the birth of his new grandson.
During last night’s instalment of the Channel 5 show, Dave had been helping look after a highland cow named Fern before and after the birth of her calf.
Dave, who usually works at Cannon Hall Farm in Yorkshire, was on hand to help the calf who was struggling to feed, but was noticeably absent from footage of the calf’s birth, which was shown at the beginning of the episode.
Knowing viewers would pick up on the absence, Helen took the opportunity to address it when she caught up with Dave and the calf later on.
“Now eagle-eyed among us might have noticed that Dave was not on hand when the little calf came into the world, for good reason,” Helen began.
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She continued, addressing Dave: “It’s because Fern [the cow] is a proud mum, but you are a proud grandad - have a look at this.”
As Helen spoke, a photograph of Dave holding his newborn grandson was shown on the screen.
Helen cooed over the picture. “Who is this little dude?” she asked, to which Dave responded, “that’s baby Arthur, he’s doing really well.”
“He’s growing well, and he is putting loads of weight on and he’s just a beautiful little boy,” Dave gushed.
Getting a glimpse of the adorable newborn, Winter On the Farm co-host Jules Hudson chimed in: “I’ll tell you what, your granddaughter Nelly’s has got some competition now.”
Explaining Dave’s absence from the birth of Fern’s calf, Helen revealed: “Baby Arthur was born on the exact same night as the calf.”
She added: “We don’t need to ask how proud you are because it is written all over your face. Congratulations to you and all of the family.”
When Dave returned to the farm after Arthur’s birth, he was busy watching over the calf who wasn’t feeding from its mum.
The Yorkshire Vet star, Shona Searson, joined Dave and his older brother Robert to work out the problem.
They were concerned that Fern had a bacterial infection called mastitis, which causes a painful inflammation of the udder. This affects her ability to feed her calf, who could then be left poorly and starving.
Happily, the trio were able to help Fern and gave her an injection before the infection got too serious.
Winter On The Farm episodes are available to watch on My5.



