© Shelly Strahan 2022
About These goats we love so much… Myotonic (Fainting) goats have many names. Tennessee Fainting Goats, Tennessee Meat Goats, Texas Wooden Leg, and even Stiff-Legged, Nervous and Scare goats. All the different names have come from a breed trait known as myotonia (my-o-toe-nee-ah) congenita (kon-jen-it-ah) which only affects skeletal muschles (muschels that we use to move our bones). It is congenital, meaning that it is present when the goat is born. This condition occurs in many species, including humans. The goats do not really faint. They remain fully conscious. When they are startled or overly excited, their muscles stiffen (or freeze). If the goat loses its balance, it will fall over. Once their muscles relax, they jump up and are off again. Younger goats fall over more often than older goats. Older goats learn to spread their legs, or lean against something so they do not fall. Sometimes they even continue to run in an awkward, stiff-legged shuffle. *This information provided by the Fainting Goat Guild. See links page for more info.   Fainting goats have great dispositions, and are very curious and gentle by nature. They love attention, and even the goats with horns rarely get pushy or mean with people (they will sometimes fight with other goats). They are a small to medium sized breed of goat. We have fainting goats that range in size from 65 lbs (Australian Shepherd) to 150 lbs (Mastiff). Adult does weigh an average of 65-130 lbs, and adult bucks (breeding males) weigh between 80-150 lbs.   Because they have a tendency to go stiff when they get overly excited, fainting goats do not jump very high. You can keep them in an enclosure witha  4 foot high fence (most other goats will jump out of any enclosure with a less than 5.5 foot fence). Any fence that can contain a standard Dachsund or a Welsh Corgi can hold a fainting goat. This makes them great “backyard” goats. A word of caution, though. This same trait makes them unsuitable as “ditch goats” (goats chained up to eat weeds). They are good weed eaters, but need to be behind a fence as they are not as able to defend themselves from predators and other animals as other breeds of goats are. Rising S Ranch  S O I I I I
Myotonic and Myotonic Cross Goats