Sheep, Thorndike and Youtube...

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Well in the last few weeks I have gone on and on about my sheep, farming in general and the town I live in; so really there was only one thing to do...put those wooly creatures on the internet via Youtube. So that is what I did.

It might be a good chance for you to see what Thorndike is like from a multiple set of vantage points too. You have probably seen a lot of the spots, but this is all streamed together so you get a better idea of the overall terrain and topography of the land here, and just how sparse it is. (well for being in the lower 48 states I guess). It truly is the quaint rural town many people think of when they think New England.

Hope you enjoy it...

Sheep, Thorndike on Youtube
 
Great video Travis. Hey you becoming like Stu here with your farming story. I appreciate the insight you have given us to farming life. Boy you sure know a thing or two about the subject. Read all your posts on the corn crop. Thanks again for taking the time to put it out here for us to read.
 
Great video Travis. Hey you becoming like Stu here with your farming story. I appreciate the insight you have given us to farming life. Boy you sure know a thing or two about the subject. Read all your posts on the corn crop. Thanks again for taking the time to put it out here for us to read.

I really don't know that much, I just know what we do pretty well, which as Robert points out, is different depending on what you do with the farm. Here we have raised mostly potatoes, sheep, dairy cows and chickens, so its different then other farmers in other parts of the country, not to mention our 100 day growing season. :eek:

Overall its interesting. With farming such a huge impact on everyone's life here, its what we talk about. The price of milk, the price of commodities, tractors and trucks. I remember being 10 years old when my Grandfather spent hours in the barn one day explaining how to make money with the stock market. Buying shares, selling shares and when and how to do all of it while literally juggling railroad cars of potatoes, and tomatoes because he always dealt with the commodities market. Pretty hard to beat a education like that when you are hip deep in potatoes and realize something so tangible is about to be bought and sold a few times before they reach someones dinner plate. Farming just gives you a different perspective on things.

I guess just yesterday the Amish here had borrowed a tractor and were doing some hay when something broke in the transmission, the tractor rolled down over the hill, through a rock wall and smashed into a tree and literally broke in half. The whole clan got together, got dressed up in their Sunday best and went and saw the farmer whose tractor they borrowed and vowed they were getting a team of horses together to pull the tractor out of the woods before nightfall.

Silly Amish...

The man just laughed and said,"Why don't you grab my John Deere and finish your haying, its not like anyone is going to steal a tractor that is broken in half in the middle of the woods!."

We got snow coming on Sunday, and the hay is down now which changes priorities. The tractor can wait, not to mention, "things just happen". We get along with the Amish, but they got to learn our way of doing things too. We don't get too excited and farming ALWAYS comes first. Get the hay in now, fix the tractor later...
 
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Yeah if I was a better sound mixing engineer I could have mixed "Allison Road" by the Gin Blossoms with "Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Mary had a little Lamb" and got my own rendition of...

"Alyson had a little Lamb."

Milo_close_up-small.JPG
 
Funny story about that song...

As you know I have sheep and have a big dread regarding coyotes getting them. Without a LGD or Donkey, one of the ways I keep them at bay is to use a radio playing all night in the pasture. Well I am blessed with one of the last remaining locally staffed, locally owned radio stations in the country. (WKIT-Bangor) So at 4 AM one Friday I emailed the DJ and told them what I did and how they keep the coyotes at bay by hearing the guys voice and hearing the songs. So at my request they played "Mary had a little lamb" for my sheep.

Now where else but Maine would a radio station play a song for sheep, at 4 AM and then get into a back and forth email conversation about livestock? This was the emails that transpired so you can laugh along with me.

Dear Rob,

I realize working the hours you do, it may get lonely, but I thought you would be interested to know that you provide a very important job for me. I have sheep, but currently lack a guard dog for these sheep. Since coyotes typically prey on these sheep just before sun-up, I have installed a remote speaker out in my pasture. The music and your voice soothes the sheep and makes the coyotes realize they are humans around and keeps the sheep safe.

So 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, WKIT keeps a watch over my flock. I am not sure these sheep have the same appreciation for Classic Rock that I do, but I digress.

So how about a song request for my sheep? Of course there is only one song you can play...Mary had a Little Lamb by Stevie Ray Vaughn. Its fitting is it not? And thanks.


And he replied in regards to "your voice soothes the sheep"...

Travis:

You made my night! I'm going to play the song in a few minutes! Thanks!
Now Don Morgan (news announcer) is calling me a "Seducer of Sheep"!


Then after he read my email on air in its entirety, the song played and I emailed him back:

TThe sheep said thanks, but sheep are funny. They require shorter days and cold nights to"get in the mood" to have offspring for Spring. That means #46, the Ram, is a little jealous of your new title as he is in with the ewes right now doing his thing. Its hard to tell what he is saying as it all sounds like baa to me, but I think he is saying HE is the seducer of sheep. I'll let you two argue it out.

I'll attach a picture so you can see what you are up against. I'll warn you, he likes his ewes like I like a VP nominee!


The picture I sent was the one shown above.

Oh no, look at the glint in his eyes. I'll let him have his ewes. I don't have sheep but I have goats and one rammed me the other day and it still hurts. Thanks for the laughs and thanks for listening.

As I said, where else would something like this happen?
 
Nice video, what I found funny was the "related" videos in the list. The first one was a video for a house for sale in Thorndike, I never would of thought to look on YouTube for a house listing.
 
Thanks for the video

You sure live in a beautiful area Travis. That one calf looks like its ready to give Allison a big old wet kiss-did it ? :eek::D

Keep this stuff coming. I grew up in a farming community-emphasis on COMMUNITY ! Farmers tend to know what really matters and don't get too caught up in stuff that doesn't. Everybody helped everybody else when they could because they knew they'd need help some day. What goes around, comes around-good as well as bad. Kind of like you and the firewood deal.:thumb:

Here's a big "Attaboy" to you and your family. You sure set a good example.:thumb:
 
Thanks Don, that was a nice compliment,and yeah it is a nice place really.Oh personalities can clash, but here is kind of a funny tale that shows how farmers and people in general live around here.

Anyway the Amish here had borrowed a tractor from a guy here in town and were doing some haying when something broke in the transmission, the tractor rolled down over the hill, through a rock wall and smashed into a tree and literally broke in half. I guess it was quite the scene. So the whole clan got together, got dressed up in their Sunday best and went and saw the farmer whose tractor they borrowed and vowed they were getting a team of horses together to pull the tractor out of the woods before nightfall.

Silly Amish...

The man just laughed and said,"Why don't you grab my John Deere and finish your haying, its not like anyone is going to steal a tractor that is broken in half in the middle of the woods!."

Now here we got snow coming shortly, and their hay is down which changes priorities. The tractor can wait, not to mention, "things just happen". We get along with the Amish, but they got to learn our way of doing things too. We don't get too excited and farming ALWAYS comes first. Get the hay in now, fix the tractor later.

I asked the Amish awhile back what they thought of Thorndike, and the guy said he thought they would do well here. Yeah me too. They were trying to do the right thing by fixing that tractor,and the farmer was doing the right thing by ensuring they got their hay in. Pretty hard to get mad at someone when no one is wrong.
 
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