The Hero Of The Herd: More Tales From A Country Veterinarian

The Hero of the Herd: More Tales from a Country Veterinarian

For the thousands of readers who fell in love with Doc McCormack and the farmers, cattlemen, and moonshiners of Choctaw County in Fields and Pastures New and A Friend of the Flock, The Hero of the Herd is like coming home to old friends. There's Carney Sam Jenkins, the county's amateur vet/taxidermist, with his stock diagnosis of "kidneyitis"; Bob "Sinkin" Jenkins, a 250-pound tough-as-nails hog farmer and "Olympic champion fainter" who can barely stand the sight of blood; and Goat, the mailman who doubles as the town gossip. There are new folks too--the McCormacks' infant son, Paul; J.B. and Pool Do, the best hired hands in the state of Alabama; and one especially fractious piglet named Fred. There are even some big changes--like the new color television behind the counter at Miss Ruby McCord's Grocery and Service Station. But it's still the same Choctaw County, where late-night calf deliveries keep Doc up past his bedtime, where the local barbershop is the place to catch up on all the news, and where your best friends and neighbors are always just a holler away.Of course, our coveralls were wet and covered with mud, and, as expected, there was a problem with one hard-core resister. That particular hog had apparently decided he wanted no part of the surgical procedure and had somehow evaded capture by scaling the short fence and retreating back down the hill into the swamp.Suddenly a grim-faced Buck beelined toward the escapee, who was taking a breather in the deepest, gummiest part of the lot. When he came to within about ten feet of the porker, Buck made a flying tackle and landed atop the surprised pig. The resulting chaos was worthy of national television coverage. In spite of their giggling, Everett and John piled on the wallowing duo. In the process of trying to jump and run through the mud, I lost both of my knee-high rubber boots. When it was all over, we stood staring at the scene for several minutes. Never had I seen such a sight. All we needed were several fires burning, smoke spiraling upward, and the scene would have been reminiscent of a Civil War movie not long after the Yankees had marched through the farmsteads outside Atlanta.From Publishers WeeklyWith 30 years of successful veterinary practice behind him, McCormack (A Friend of the Flock) has a wealth of stories about people and animals in rural Choctaw County, Ala. Back in the 1960s, McCormack was the first vet in the county; he had a big-animal practice, treating everything from household pets to cows, pigs and horses. Most of his clients were small farmers. McCormack recounts his first cesarean surgery of a young heifer, during which tough-talking bystanders became nauseated and fainted; he describes the rescue of a calf and its owner from a deep gully. Colorful characters abound: Carney Sam Jenkins, taxidermist, amateur vet, expert on "hollertail"; Miss Ruby McCord, proprietress of the local grocery; Goat, the mailman and purveyor of gossip. There are tales of searching deep woods at night for a sick cow and the curious case of the sunburned piglets and the evil Fred, runt of the litter. McCormack is a firm believer in the value of a "good guffaw," and he provides plenty of them with his lively anecdotes. Many of the stories have as much to do with the idiosyncrasies of small-town life as they do with the treatment of animals. But the author manages to convey, without giving way to a saccharine idealism, the pleasures of living in a place where people don't lock their doors.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalYA-While this return to Dr. McCormack's veterinarian practice in Choctaw County, AL, in the 1960s will delight fans of the first two books, readers unfamiliar with them will still enjoy this addition to the series. The author's reminiscences continue to be punctuated with plenty of humorous events and with a lot of good-natured fun poked at his own attempts at healing a wide var