SV: Fainting Goats (was Re: SV: [AT] Some ads from the 10/15 LancasterFarming

[Mattias Kessén]

Thank you!
I'll begin with answering Dave: The main excuse for me to play with my David
Brown is goat related (since Magdalena have three of them though they never
fainted sadly enough, if one of them becomes stiff it causes a whole lot of
digging for me :-(

I know that wolves are different in different places (though our government
never will understand it - not political critism against city people) Here
our wolves hunt sheep for fun so the sheep will all die but the goats
escape.
Thank's again for very intresting reading.

/Mattias

P.S. I really asked without knowing it really was goats I thought it might
be something like Iron horse or such things.

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
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[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]För Mike Sloane
Skickat: den 20 oktober 2005 18:52
Till: Antique tractor email discussion group
Ämne: OT: Fainting Goats (was Re: SV: [AT] Some ads from the 10/15
LancasterFarming




Mattias Kessén wrote:
> Here's another of those "please enlighten me questions". I really got to
ask
> what is a fainting goat?

From: <http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jimknapp/goats.html>
"Fainting goats?" you ask. "This must be a joke!"

"No," I reply, "they are definitely real." Fainting goats are a slightly
smaller version of the standard goat, who, believe it or not, thanks to
a genetic condition called myotonia congenita, actually seem to faint
when they are startled.

As strange as this may sound, these little critters have actually served
an historical purpose. Shepherds often kept the goats in with their
flocks as insurance in case of predator attacks. The theory went
something like this- as wolves would come down from the hills to attack
a flock of sheep, the goats would become startled and, as per the name
of their breed, they would faint. The sheep would make a clean getaway,
as the wolves would focus on the stunned goats rather than pursue the
fleeing sheep. Not that wonderful if you were one of the goats, sure,
but downright dandy if you happened to be a sheep.

This breed has several names- the most common are Myotonic, Tennessee
Fainting, Nervous, and Scare goats. The names refer specifically to
myotonia congenita, a condition in which the muscle cells experience
prolonged contraction when the goat is startled. The transitory
stiffness associated with these contractions can cause the goat to stop
moving, stiffen, and even fall down. This is not a true faint, but a
muscular phenomenon unrelated to the nervous system. The actual degree
of stiffness may vary widely from goat to goat and is based on a number
of factors, including age, species purity, and degree of fright.

The breed's recorded history (or at least as much of it as I can find)
reaches back to the 1880's, when a migrant worker named John Tinsley
brought four of them to Tennessee. Not much is known about Tinsley,
though he is reported to have come from Nova Scotia. The breed soon
became popular throughout the region, thanks to three major factors: 1)
they were less prone to climbing (and therefore escape), 2) they had a
higher degree of muscularity than their non-fainting relatives (and thus
would make a better dinner), and 3) high reproductive rates (typically
two or more to a litter).

The breed has gained popularity in recent years (especially evidenced by
the number of emails I receive from interested students, TV news shows,
and people who have lost bar bets), with two major trends developing
amongst breeders. The first, a more traditional approach, emphasizes the
meat qualities of the animals and selection based on growth rate and
reproductive efficiency. The other trend emphasizes the "novelty" aspect
of the goats, focusing almost exclusively on stiffness and small size. "

Mike
>
> /Mattias
>


--
Mike Sloane
Allamuchy NJ
mikesloane at verizon.net
Website: <www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>

Don't judge men's wealth or godliness by their Sunday appearance.
-Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)


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