October 28, 2004

• ...and there is even a Movie
• I first saw fainting goats on tv probably ten or more years ago. Naturally, I wanted to get one. I mean, who wouldn't want a fainting goat?
• A couple of hilarious fainting goat facts: If they live in/around houses, as they get older they learn to always walk near walls. So if they faint, they just fall against the wall, not the ground. Their legs are ridiculously meaty and strong, as a result of the "faint". In fact, it's not even a faint, as the goats retain conciousness the entire time. What it is is some kind of mis-wireing in the brain that, when frightened, causes the muscles to spasm so hard that the goat cannot move. This is why, when they faint, they always fall on their backs with their legs sticking straight up in the air. The fainting goat was a rare genetic accident of sorts - noone really knows where they come from. All that is known is that a wanderer appeared in Tennessee around 1850 with a billy and three nannies that all fainted, and used them as show creatures to make money. This wanderer ended up selling all four goats to a local Doctor and then leaving the state, never to be seen again. The dr. decided to breed the goats thinking they might have some purpose, and that's where the whole breed comes from.
• Saving my money to breed seizuring pet pigs! /sarcasm
• "Different things will cause the goats to faint. Snowball is the most prolific fainter, and routinely passes out at changes in her environment. 'Sometimes she will go down five, six or seven times just coming out of the barn,' Jill said. Blizzard is more susceptible to movement. She fainted once when a grasshopper flew by her.' You cannot imagine how much this made me giggle and chuckle. Pure whimsy!