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| Fields and Pastures New: My First Year as a Country Vet | 
| Author: John Mccormack
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $19.00
Buy Used: $1.38
You Save: $17.62 (93%)
New (15) Collectible (1) from $11.58
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 321567
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0449225364
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.089092
EAN: 9780449225363
ASIN: 0449225364
Publication Date: September 23, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In 1963, just three years out of veterinary school, Dr. John McCormack moved his wife and kids to Choctaw County, Alabama, to start his first practice. Choctaw folk never had a licensed vet before, and, with few exceptions, they welcomed the red-headed doctor and the tireless care he gave their animals.
Fields and Pastures New is the heartwarming story of young Dr. McCormack's first years in this deeply rural country, where mule-drawn wagons still bumped down dirt roads . . . where the local barbershop was the best place to catch up on the news . . . and where nobody ever let Doc forget his most embarrassing moments.
"I am proud to say that my closest friendships, outside my family, have been with my clients," Dr. McCormack writes. "I hope readers will get to know some of the workings of the small family farm, and how these down-to-earth people confront their hardships and disappointments with so much good humor."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Master Story Teller June 16, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book relates some of McCormack's adventures as the new vet in a southern country town during the early 1960s. McCormack grew up on a farm in Tennessee. His college roommate, a pre-vet major, interested him in veterinary science. Once he earned his veterinary degree and had a few years of experience under his belt, he set off in search of a town where he could hang up his shingle with an independent veterinary practice. At the time, Butler, Alabama had no licensed vet, so it seemed like a reasonable place for a new vet to make a start. In this book, McCormack describes the characters he met, both human and bovine, during that first year in Butler.
McCormack is a master storyteller. With his careful choice of words, he conveys the character of the place with all its color. While chatting with some locals at a general store, McCormack quipped he went into veterinary rather than human medicine because he didn't like dealing with people. But he tells us that this is absolutely not true-if there's one skill that a vet must have above all others, it's the ability to deal with people, to understand their needs and character. In this book, McCormack regales us with tales of how he came to learn this lesson.
nicely written May 24, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and entertaining. I loved the Herriot stories so much, this is another great book about vet stories. It will definately be worth your time.
The Next Best Thing Than Being There Assisting Dr. McCormack May 26, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I own the hardback copy of this book...actually I have owned it for a few years now. It is one of those books that become a literary treasure in your bookcase. I was so hooked on this book when I first got it, I read it from cover to cover in one day...I just couldn't put it down!Dr. McCormack in the US can be likened to James Herriott of England. His stories of animals that he treated and the start of his career in the 1960's makes the reader feel they are right along side him assisting in whatever procedure needs to be done to his animal patient. I am a person of great compassion for animals and as a reader, I was truly appreciative that the love and compassion that Dr. McCormack has for his animal patients shines through to the reader's soul. I laughed with this book..I have cried with this book...I have pulled for the sick animal in this book...I have rooted Dr. McCormack through as he treated tough cases in this book. There are books about animals and then there are the special books about animals because the respect, compassion from the writer is there and the animal patients become real as one reads along the journey in the book. If you are a James Herriott fan or an animal lover who is a reader, I highly, and I stress highly, suggest getting this book and reading it!
Good Vet Stories, Great Portrait of Alabama April 18, 2001
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My people are not from Choctaw County, but we're from "around there." This is not only a sympathetic and heartfelt account of a rural vet practice in the sixties; it's a very accurate look at the folks you were likely to meet then and there, both the good and the bad. I have met most of the folks he talks about, or at least their near relations. Dr. McCormack's extended meditation on the verbal mangling of his job description by his neighbors is alone worth the price of admission, although the account of his visit to the Governor's Mansion driving the "rounds vehicle" and a too-long-delayed boar cutting run it very close. Excellent book.
A good read anytime! July 16, 2000
I really enjoyed this book. It had good detail, and you really felt like you were going on the rounds with Dr. McCormack. I have read it several times since I bought it, and it is hard to put down each time, even though I know the outcome!I enjoyed reading how tough it was to convert some of the farmers to the methods of modern veterinary medicine, and it was interesting to read the different methods the farmers had preferred to treat the illnesses in their livestock and pets until their was more modern help available.
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