Farming has been in John Connell's family for generations, but he never intended to follow in his father's footsteps. Until, one winter, after more than a decade away, he finds himself back on the farm.

This is an epic novel. The Midwest has turmoil. A woman is raped. A wagon train is formed, and they venture to the southeast. A mixed child is born on the way. He is adopted by a segregationist, Norman Barnes, the leader. Many adventures occur on train. They arrive in Georgia, and set up a farm. It is a farmer community. Many changes occur. The mixed child is raised as white. Five generations are included. White and black are partners. Generations live and die. Ray, the fifth generation, plays football for Georgia and plays Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Farming has been in John Connell's family for generations, but he never intended to follow in his father's footsteps. Until, one winter, after more than a decade away, he finds himself back on the farm.

Farming has been in John Connell's family for generations, but he never intended to follow in his father's footsteps. Until, one winter, he finds himself back on the farm and begins to learn the ways of the farmer and the way of the cows. Connell records the hypnotic rhythm of the farming day - cleaning the outhouses, milking the herd, tending to sickly lambs, helping the cows give birth. But alongside the routine events, there are the unforeseen moments when things go wrong: when a calf fails to thrive, when a sheep goes missing, when illness breaks out, when depression takes hold, when an argument erupts and things are said that cannot be unsaid. The Cow Book is the story of a calving season. It is also the story of the cow itself, from its domestication and worship as a God by the Ancient Egyptians to the modern practice of mechanized herds, via the figure of the cowboy, the destruction of the American buffalo, the demise of the aboriginal jackaroos and the consequences of BSE. And, above all, it is the story of Connell's life as a farmer, of his relationship with his birthplace of County Longford, with the community around the family farm, with the animals he tends, and with his father.

This book is a quaint story of a day in the life of a farmer's son. Beautifully illustrated! Age appropriate for introducing and reinforcing basic concepts such as push/pull, colors, small/medium/large. Share this cute story with your student or child and find out what every dad should wear for slippers!