It's all about preserving the breed!
Dr. Phil Sponenberg discussing how the Myotonic Goats ended up so rare.
“They were just overlooked. I mean, it was just a local thing that occurred in Tennessee. The breeders weren’t organized; there was no need to go anywhere with it. And then, in the exotic animal boom of the 1980s, some people started paying attention to them. And then, the whole thing sort of goes two different directions. You know, one is the novelty market. You know, a really, really stiff goat—small, pretty. And then the other was actually [for meat]. The muscle condition makes them more heavily muscled than a normal goat. And so, their meat-to-bone ratio is about 4 to 1 instead of the usual goat—3 to 1. So, they actually do make sense as a meat goat.”
“They were just overlooked. I mean, it was just a local thing that occurred in Tennessee. The breeders weren’t organized; there was no need to go anywhere with it. And then, in the exotic animal boom of the 1980s, some people started paying attention to them. And then, the whole thing sort of goes two different directions. You know, one is the novelty market. You know, a really, really stiff goat—small, pretty. And then the other was actually [for meat]. The muscle condition makes them more heavily muscled than a normal goat. And so, their meat-to-bone ratio is about 4 to 1 instead of the usual goat—3 to 1. So, they actually do make sense as a meat goat.”