Scared stiff
Fainting goat taking part in exhibition
BiBle Hill To see her, Daisy looks pretty much like any other cute little goat – until, that is, something startles her.
Daisy, for lack of a better name, is a miniature “fainting goat.”
“Daisy doesn’t faint as easy as her half-sister,” said Xavier LeBlanc, a 17-year-old Bible Hill resident. “Things that are most likely to make her faint are when a tractor comes through, the hay elevator starts running or a horse startles; anything sudden and loud. It’s not really fainting though.”
LeBlanc has been involved with 4-H since he was nine. The Truro-North River club member had been taking part in computer and rabbit divisions – then his grandmother told him about the fainting goats. He was intrigued and ended up with one of his own.
To get an idea, imagine a goat undergoing sudden onset of rigor mortis. It tips over on his side, legs rigid. Then in seconds, he’s back up again, going about the business of being a goat.
They are sometimes known as wooden-leg goats, stiff-leg goats, scare goats, among other names.
The condition the goats have is myotonia congenita, which results in the muscles becoming rigid when the animal is startled.
They then sometimes fall over but they don’t lose consciousness. They can stiffen and remain upright, with the more muscular goats usually the most affected.
“It doesn’t hurt them at all,” said LeBlanc. “They get back up quickly and go back to whatever they were doing.”
Myotonia congenita also affects people, although it is not usually severe enough to result in falls.
Daisy, four months old, is one of the animals being shown in 4-H classes at this year’s NSPE.