This heritage breed has a rich history and we hope you will enjoy this timeline and take the time to read some of the older articles. Be sure to also check out the Historical Photos page.
The story is that a man named John Tinsley arrived in Marshall County, Tennessee, with four “nervous” goats, which he had brought from Nova Scotia. Dr. Mayberry purchased the four goats, a buck and three does, and began breeding them to have more of these “nervous” goats.
Goats that Faint Waterbury Evening Democrat, May 14, 1904
Drs. White & Plaskett wrote “Nervous,” “Stiff-Legged,” or “Fainting” Goats forThe Veterinary Journal, Volume 65, Issue 5, Pages 251-253, May 1909
Nervous Goats Faint The Farmer and Mechanic, August 10, 1909
Threatening Move Will Frighten Timid Goats The Ekalaka Eagle, Nov. 4th, 1910
Senator Shields’ “Nervous Goats” The Clovis News, June 5th, 1914
J. J. Hooper of Kentucky State University wrote “A Peculiar Breed of Goats” Science, Volume 43, Issue 1112, Page 571, April 1916
Three Good Stories, published in The Reading Eagle, page 23, Oct. 14, 1917
Sensitive Breed of Goats published Dec. 20, 1929 in the Providence County Times, page 7, Dec. 20, 1929. The article mentions this breed of goats was in Gastonburg, AL
Then, just seven days later, an article on fainting goats was published on the front page. Goats Faint at Startling Noise Providence County Times, page 1, Dec. 27, 1929
“Nervous” Goats by Jay L. Lush
Journal of Heredity, Volume 21, Issue 6, Pages 243-247,
Published: June 1930
Lush mentions having seen these nervous goats on a farm in Dickens County, Texas on several occasions. This is the first known mention of this breed being in Texas.
Science: Goode’s Goats, Time Magazine
Published: February 1932
The article’s focus is on R. J. Goode, of Gastonburg, AL.
*Note: R. J. Goode was the Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture & Industries from 1935-1939.
In response to National Geographic Magazine’s article and Ripley’s “Believe it or Not ” fainting goat cartoon, locals assure that the goats are very common place in northern Alabama.
source: Not New Here, The Florence Times, page 2, Feb. 29, 1932
The story of Bob Goode’s Fainting Goats in Gastonburg, AL became widespread, with many people across the nation not believing they existed.
source: Bob Goode Is ‘Dirt Farmer’,Times Daily, page 6, published June 14th, 1934
Will N. Reynolds says he has a herd of 50 or more fainting goats in North Carolina at his farm Tanglewood.
source: The Abilene Daily Reporter, page 2, Feb. 13, 1935
Strange Herd of Goats Faint with a Single Shout of “Boo”
William Bennett, Waycross Journal-Herald, page 3, April 1, 1935
Myotonia Congenita in the Goat
George F. Sutherland & Quin F. Curtis, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, Volume 38, Issue 4, Published: May 1938
This article specifically references a Mr. D. E. Motlow of Lynchburg, Tennessee.
An England journal specifically references obtaining goats with myotonia from the United States.
Congenital Myotonia in the Goat, by G. L. Brown & A. M. Harvey,
Brain, Volume 62, Issue 4, Pages 341–363, Published: December 1939
Texas rancher Boone Heep Sr. purchased a group of Myotonic Goats in Tennessee and brought them to his ranch near Austin, Texas.
source: Suzanne Gasparotto of Onion Creek Ranch, Myotonic the Breed, or Displaying Myotonia
Other than a brief letter to the editor (below) asking if the milk from a “nervous goat” was safe to drink, there was little mention of the goats from 1939-1963.
Letters to the Editor: Blackwell Asks Clanton for some “Information” Subject: The Nervous Goat, by: Maurice Blackwell, of Sheffield, AL.Times Daily, page 3, Aug. 19, 1959
Dennis Bales of Bonham, Texas owns 4 “nervous goats” and believes there are fewer than 12 of these rare goats in existence.
source: Fright Sends Goats into a Trance The Buckingham Post, page 3, March 29, 1963
Children’s Camp Makes Good Home for Nervous Baby Goat
The Bonham Daily Favorite, page 5, Feb. 14, 1965
Of interesting note, this article mentions they live on US Highway 82 West, TX.
Dennis Bales of Bonham, Texas used the goats to attract attention to his lumber yard. He sold his goats to Mr. & Mrs. Jimmy Buford for their children’s camp (see article above). This article again mentions how few in number the goats are.
source: Nervous Nannies: Goats go into Trance at the Drop of a Hat, The Victoria Advocate, page 11, June 24, 1965
Visit ROYCE the Nervous Goat, any day from 10am – 6pm, Deer Forest on Brighton Ave (Hwy 43) in Muscle Shoals, AL
Newspaper Advertisement, Times Daily, page 8
The first mention of fainting goats in New York, “Fainting Bill” came from a friend in Massachusetts.
source: My New York, by Mel Heimer, The Ceuro Record, page 4, Oct. 17th, 1968
The article below mentions 12yr old Craig Buford, son of Jimmy Buford, and the rare occurrence of twin females born to their solid black female. (Earlier articles mentioned the Bufords only had 1 female in their small herd.)
Nervous Nannies Named for Nixons, The Bonham Daily Favorite, page 3, Feb. 9, 1969
First documented mention of the goats in Kentucky. The article mentions a Joe Altsheler, who had some on Julien Rd, near Hopkinsville, Ky and another herd in LaFayette, Ky, however both herds no longer exist.
What Happened, Kentucky New Era, page 3
No author listed. Published: Dec. 23rd, 1974
*While it doesn’t specify, this is basically a letter to the editor type submission.
Discusses John Rice Irwin’s fainting goats.
Includes a picture of fainting goats at Museum of Appalachia.
source: “Wanted: Fainting Goat Billy To Keep Herd Going
“ Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville – Article 38, Sept. 6, 1981
During the 1980s, by studying the goats and their breed histories it became clear that Texas Wooden Leg and Tennessee Fainting goats were the same breed.
source: The Livestock Breed Conservancy, Changes Through the Years, 2017
Article mentions a Dr. Renfrow Hauser of North Carolina who owns some fainting goats.
Startle These Goats and They’ll Faint, The Dispatch, page 8, Feb. 22nd 1982
The American Tennessee Fainting Goat Association (ATFGA) was formed. Anyone could join whether they owned the goats or not, however the ATFGA lost momentum in the early 1990s and was completely non-existent by 1998.
Fainting goats were added to the American Livestock Breed Conservancy’s Conservation Priority List and officially declared “threatened” due to dwindling numbers.
source: Hobby Farm Magazine 2007 issue
Scared-Silly Goats Coyote-Bait, Ellensburg Daily Record published Oct. 14, 1988
Myotonic Goats joined the Conservation Priority List (CPL) in 1989. It took a few years to sort out that Tennessee Fainting, Texas Wooden Leg, and Myotonic Goats were all the same.
The International Fainting Goat Association (IFGA) was established. According to their website, the IFGA was committed to preserving the Fainting Goat breed through registration, pedigree documentation, and public education. The IFGA no longer exists as of 2023.
The first fainting goat contest was held in 1990 at International Goat Days in Millington, TN. Not a single goat fainted in the arena.
source: Orlando Sentinel Just Kidding Around With Fainting Goats, published Jan. 13, 1992
The early 1990s was fraught with controversy between animal rights activists and fainting goat breeders.
Nervous Nanny Goats Breed Uproar, National News, May 7th, 1991
The Problem of the Fainting Goats, Tampa Bay Times, May 9th, 1991
Animal Rights Controversy The Vindicator, May 12, 1991
Fainting Goats Don’t Faint The Albany Harold, Oct. 1st, 1991
James Adkinson, PhD, says he leads a research team who studies fainting goats at Vanderbilt University. “It is not harmful to these goats to fall, other than just having the inconvenience of falling, and again this happens day in and day out when they’re out on the farm. Any sudden noise, whether it’s a dog barking or a car blowing its horn can provoke an attack, and that just occurs naturally.” source: “Fainting Goats” documentary by the Fifth Estate, 1991
Tennessee/Wooden Leg/Myotonic goats were assigned to the category of “Rare” (now known as Threatened) on the Conservation Priority List.
source: The Livestock Conservancy
“There are now 3,400 registered fainting goats, up from 2,000 in 1992, according to the International Fainting Goat Association.” Source: Orlando Sentinel, published June 22, 1997
Virgil S. LeQuire, M.D. was both a physician and a scientist who raised a herd of fainting goats on his farm in Williamson County, TN.
source: Virgil LeQuire and His Fainting Goats Remembered at Symposium in His Honor, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, VUMC News, July 2004
The Myotonic Goat Registry (MGR) was formed.
source: MGR 2012 spring newsletter: “Myotonic Goat Review”, Volume 7, Issue 2
About 9,000 fainting goats are now registered. This article also has quotes from breeders in Kansas, as well as Eddie Taylor of Lewisburg, TN.
Owners Fall for Their Fainting Goats, Lawrence Journal-World, page 1B, cont. on page 3B, June 25th, 2007
Tennessee Fainting Goats were moved from “threatened” to the status of “watch” on the Conservation Priority List with The American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC).
source: The Livestock Conservancy
Fainting goats: Myotonic Goats Explained, by Phillip Sponenberg, Nov. 2009
The above article has numerous photos and is written by someone I would consider to be an expert of the breed.
The Myotonic (Tennessee Fainting) goat is moved from the “watch” category to “recovering”.
source: 2012 Conservation Priority List, The Livestock Conservancy (previously known as ALBC), Feb. 21st, 2012
More than 4,200 Myotonic goats are registered each year.
source: Changes in the Conservation Priority List for 2024, Livestock Conservancy, page 5, April 2024