Fainting goats????

[wischickenlover]

Has anyone ever heard of them? We have been thinking on getting a goat for about 6 months now, but will wait til spring now. I know we definitely want a female, possibly a pygmy. But a friend of mine mentioned these "fainting goats", and I have never heard of them. Can anyone give me any info? Thanks!

 

[TransplantedTexan]

I want some of those as well, next year.

Here's a couple site's
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jimknapp/goats.html

http://www.faintinggoat.com/

 

[jeaucamom]

My daughter has one at her father's house in with a herd of 9 other goats...3 pygmies, 1 la mancha mix, 4 standard mutts. Here is what she has to say about him..."Our fainting goat doesn't quite get the idea of fainting. He only half faints. So his back end gets all stiff while his front end is still trying to run away. LOL

They are big ugly and they stink to high heaven. Ours is extremely flighty... I haven't been able to touch him in over a year. He treats our other goats fairly, he is not mean or aggressive. As a matter of fact, for a mere $50 you could be the proud owner of this amazing big ugly stinky goat. Now how can you resist that????

Pygmies on the other hand are the sweetest things you will ever lay your eyes on. All of mine come up and snuggle.

 

[TxChiknRanchers]

Dirty Jobs had a story on them. Mike Rowe was impressed. but they had a hard time making them faint for the clip. Some do just fall over when they are frightened. Actually their legs get stiff and when they start to run they fall over. I think they said it was a nervous condition?

 

[helmstead]

Myotonic goats are really neat. They come in full size and miniature varieties as well as a long haired silky variety.

The fainting isn't fainting at all. Rather, it is a hereditary condition of the large muscles causing the muscles to contract and hold. It is painless to the goat and actually builds muscle. There are varying degrees of the condition from goat to goat - not all myotonic goats will full out seize up. Some just show a stiffness in the hindquarter.

I understand they are a good goat to have if you don't want to worry about the usual 'escape artist' problems. The cannot jump well and therefore are easier to keep penned up.

Cost wise, they are similar to the cost of a registered Pygmy or Nigi - around $200-$500.

 

[wischickenlover]

Quote:
LOL-too funny. I'll take him off your hands, jeaucamom! Sounds priceless! We take all kinds here! I will have to check more into this though-maybe a pygmy is the way to go......

 

[moonlitfarms]

I have 1 Fainter and 7 Nigerian Dwarf goats, I love them all. My fainter is very sweet and friendly. We like to let our heard out to roam the yard on days when we are outside. She is great because as stated before they are not big jumpers so she stays down off things. The "stink" that is refered to in another post is from male goats, mostly bucks because they pee on themselves. I have 4 wethers (fixed male) and 4 does and none of my goats stink. Nigerians are a good breed too, they are small and and they are very good milk producers. They come in a variety of colors and are very sweet animals, very fun to watch. Good luck

here is a site on nigerians as well

http://www.ndga.org

 

[Haviris]

Fainters are very beautiful goats, they come in all colors and sizes. The one I had was mostly white with tan head markings and marbled blue eyes. They also seem to be naturally laid back and friendly.

Pygmies are nice to, but you are abit limited on colors (you might have guessed I like alot of color). I raise Nigerian Dwarf goats, who are also very colorful!

Boer goats are also very sweet laid back goats. Alot of people over look the bigger goats because they only think of small goats as pets, but if I could only have one or two goats it'd probably be a nubian.

Here are a few pics of the fainter I had, he was mini sized (around 21 inches), one when he was young and one as an adult, I think he was a very handsome goat!

He had one white horn and one black!

And I agree with the other poster, the stinky goat is most like a buck, get him wethered and problem solved! And I reccommend to anyone wanting a pet goat, get a doe or wether, don't get a buck!

 

[kstaven]

The fainting goats I have met are all quite friendly.

We have toggenburgs here and they are just big affectionate puppies. Even the buck is friendly. So far he has surprised me and there has not been the odor problem like other goats. I REALLY hope it stays that way.