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Have you ever wondered what life would be like if you were a country vet in the Yorkshire Dales of England? Well, James Herriot knows what it was like because he lived that life. He started out his job as an assistant in a veterinary practice in the 1930s. Most of the cases dealt with livestock like cows, pigs, sheep and horses. They also treated cats and dogs, but it wasn't as many as the large animals. In the 1930s they did not have modern medicine or technology to help them with the animals. Their customers were the farmers and stockmen of the Yorkshire Dales, a hilly and rough part of England. It was a hard time to be a vet, but Mr. Herriot's book makes it seem like it was the best job in the world.
When James Herriot graduated from veterinary school, there were very few jobs available. He had been looking and looking, but had not found anything yet. Finally he got a letter from Mr. Siegfried Farnon of Darrowby asking him to come and interview for an assistant's job. He pictured Mr. Farnon as a chubby, jovial man who would speak with a strong German accent. In reality he was a thin, fit Englishman whose father had given him a German name. He owned the practice and needed an assistant to help him because the business was growing. James got the job and his adventures started right away. The other main person in the book is Tristan Farnon. He is Siegfried's brother and is away at veterinary college when the book starts. Tristan is lazy and doesn't seem to care much about his studies. He likes to go out and have a drink, go on dates and sleep. When he is on break from college, he helps out at the practice. Siegfried and Tristan do not always get along and the descriptions of their disagreements are always very funny.
When he first started, James went out on cases with his boss. His first case was a huge draft horse with a stone in its hoof. While he was getting the stone out the horse kept leaning on him and putting all his weight on him. This was just the start of many different experiences. After a little while things started to get into a routine. Like the usual call around nine, because the farmers have just gotten up and checked on their livestock. Usually there would be a call around midnight or later. Many of those calls were because an animal needed help giving birth. James had once said in his book “that helping an animal be born took a lot of work but if everything went well the miracle of birth was always a great experienceâ€. Sometimes the baby animal would get turned around inside the mother and would need help getting out. The feet were coming first and the baby needed to be turned around with the vet's help.
It was hard for James at first because he was new and all of Siegfried's clients wanted Siegfried instead of James. James was new and youngand they wanted Siegfriend because he was the owner of the practice and was more experienced. After awhile though they started to get used to him and like him. He proved himself to be a good vet and took very good care of their animals. To show their appreciation, they would sneak things into his car for thanks, like a pound of butter or a loaf of bread. Once a person even requested him instead of Siegfried.
One of his more unusual patients was a little dog named Triki Woo. Triki's owner was a wealthy older lady named Mrs. Pumphrey. Triki was a spoiled overweight little Pekinese. His biggest problem was that he would eat anything and Mrs. Pumphrey gave him all kinds of treats. Unlike other dogs he really liked his vet. So James became Uncle Herriot to Triki and Mrs. Pumphrey. James got all sorts of gifts and letters from Triki. Siegfried and Tristan thought this was very funny. Once he got invited to a big dance at Mrs. Pumphrey's house. The invitation came from Triki instead of Mrs. Pumphrey. At the party, Triki had two food bowls. One was filled with chicken and the other one had cake. One day James got an urgent call from Mrs. Pumphrey. She said that Triki had stopped eating and did not want to go on walks. When James arrived, he found that Triki had gained so much weight that he could hardly move. He immediately took Triki with him and had him stay at the house for two weeks. Triki ran around with Siegfried's five dogs and ate only small amounts of dog food. After the two weeks, Triki had lost weight and was a much happier dog.
A few months later Mr. Herriot received a message about Mrs. Pumphrey's pig. At first he thought it was a mistake because her only pet was Triki Woo. Siegfried had taken the message and told him that it was not a mistake and that he must not keep Mrs. Pumphrey waiting. James thought he was trying not to laugh. When he got to her house, he was introduced to Nugent, a six-week old piglet. James could not believe his eyes. The piglet was living in the kitchen and he could tell that the cook wanted it removed. James did a full examination and Nugent was very healthy. He also told her that Nugent could not live in the house, so she build him a very comfortable pig sty. A few months later she called again because she thought Nugent was having trouble going to the bathroom. James explained to her that all pigs go to the bathroom that way. Nugent enjoyed a happy life with Mrs. Pumphrey and James started getting gifts and pictures from his pig nephew as well as his dog nephew.
Unfortunately not every case ended up being a happy one. One of the sad cases James had has was an old dog in a poor section of the village. His owner was an old man whose wife had recently passed away. This dog was a fourteen year old black lab who had gotten sick and only wanted to lie down. When James got there he found out that it was stomach cancer and had to put the old dog down. The old man was heartbroken and James felt bad because he had lost his best friend. Another case was about a hunting horse who had colic, which meant his intestines were twisted. At the time there was no cure for this, so vets had to put the horse down. The trainer however did not want to do that because the horse was really expensive,and he argued with James. James could see that the horse was really sufferin, so he went ahead and put the horse down. It turned out that he made the right decision.
Some of the funniest parts of the book involve Siegfried's brother Tristan. Tristan is lazy and irresponsible but Siegfried wants him to be working at the practice when he is not at school. Siegfried decided that Tristan should be in charge of the bills. When the farmers came in to pay their vet bill, Tristan wrote down the names and the amount of their bill in the receipt book. Everything went fine until Tristan lost the receipt book and could not remember who had paid him or how much. The next month Siegfried sent out bills to many of the farmers who had already paid. They were a little upset, but understood that Tristan had made a mistake. Unfortunately, they did not record all the changes and some farmers then received another bill. They were not as understanding this time.
The office and house also had a stable and an old chicken coop. Siegfried thought that it would be great to have bacon and eggs for breakfast so he decided to buy some chicken and pigs for them. He made Tristan responsible for taking care of the pigs and chickens. Tristan was more interested inthe pigs than the chickens, so he didn't pay much attention to them and they became wild. They kept escaping and ending up in the neighbors' yards. Also, they weren't producing any eggs. Finally Siegfried got so frustrated that he gave the chickens away to an older neighbor. He later found out that they were laying eight to ten eggs per day. The pigs were not successful either. One day when they were bigger, Tristan went in to feed them and they stampeded over him and escaped out of the pen. He had also forgotten to close the gate to the yard so they all went running into the town market. It took James and Tristan hours to catch them. They never did find one of them. When they finally got back home and put the pigs back in the pen, they discovered that Tristan had also left the stable door open and Siegfried's prized mare had escaped.
Another one of Tristan's funny mistakes was when he wrecked three of Siegfried's cars. The first car he flipped coming too fast around a turn. The second one was when he was on a case with Jim. He was on a very steep hill and forgot to put the parking brake on. The car went flying backwards down the hill at 70 miles per hour. It was going so fast that the doors flew open and all the medical equipment like bottles and bandages came flying out. It finally stopped when it crashed into a golf clubhouse. It was turned over on its side, the rear light was smashed and it was all dented. While this car was in the shop, Tristan had to use Siegfried's brand-new Land Rover to go see a cow with milk fever. He had the bad luck to be in an accident that was not his fault. But, there was terrible damage to the Land Rover. The whole side and two left doors were ripped off. Siegfried was furious even thought it wasn't Tristan's fault and claimed that Tristan was a “car wreckerâ€.
James had many more experiences and adventures and wrote three more books. He worked in the Dales with Siegfried for the rest of his career. At first I wasn't sure if I would like this book because it had a slow start. However after his first case the book started to pick up and I couldn't wait to read about his next case. Although the life of a country vet was often hard, it also had many rewards. I don't think he would trade his life for anything else.
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