S1 • E7 Jul 30, 1994
Jess must call in the Department of Agriculture when she suspects Steve Atkinson's cows have contracted foot-and-mouth disease. Mr. Atkinson threatens to file a lawsuit against Jess after she implies in a television interview that he carried the disease back from overseas. Jess is heartbroken at the prospect of having to put down Brenda as a result of the outbreak. Brenda is the one and only cow owned by Stan and Ida Potter, an elderly couple living next door to Atkinson. Brenda is their pride and joy, their "reason for getting up in the morning" as Jess explains. Esme, believing the Potters to be spreading the disease unknowingly, comes down hard on the couple for endangering the entire community. The Department of Agriculture eventually finds that the cattle do not have foot-and-mouth disease but when Jess tells the Potters that the test results are negative, the couple misinterpret the news and nearly put down their beloved Brenda but fortunately Jess intervenes in the nick of time.
