Fainting Goats

Ever heard of a fainting goat? Well these guys are known as "wooden leg" or Tennessee goats and were first brought to Lewisburg, TN from Nova Scotia. This species is known for its genetic mutation that results in a muscle conformation abnormality. This causes the locking & stiffening of muscles when activated suddenly. This phenomenon appears as though the goat is fainting as it stiffly tips over when spooked or excited. 

Watch this video below for quick education on fainting goats.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg

Intrigued by these creatures? Well then find yourself in Lewisburg, TN October 10th-12th for the Annual Fainting Goat

Festival.

To understand what Chuck Norris thinks about fainting goats click below........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqRoAXXQ6OU&feature=related

Getting to know your goat....

"Who knew a goat had a fore udder and a rear udder?" I asked myself as I was casually looking through goat images and came across this informative picture to the right. I studied it closely and then realized this was no page of a coloring book, thoughts of barbecue sauce and A-1 were lingering in the back of my mind. Now, I'm no expert on goat anatomy....but when I examine the diagram above and see edible terms like Ribs, Thigh, Rump, & Brisket, I imagine this poster-size on the wall at a butcher. This "cute" picture is nothing more than a page in a cookbook, instructions on the 25 ways the fillet your goat. Incomprehensible. I'm disgusted at the thought. Once again I'm back to asking myself how anyone could eat a goat, why one would do so with so many other forms of meat available?

Unfortunately, I found an answer. Along with being much cheaper than other available meats, according to the USDA, its also healthier.

Per 3 oz. Cooked

also........ Cholesterol (mg) .....63.8 .......76 .....73.1 .....73.1 .....78.2

Data from USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 14 (July 2001).

Searching the web over I found website after website dedicated to keeping the world informed on the benefits of goat eating, the best goat recipes, and where to buy your goat meat....I even came across a "goat association" that claimed "Goat is the most FRIENDLY red meat"! Please, someone explained what is friendly about red meat. I'm a bit confused.

Words I would use to describe red meat: red, juicy, germy, expensive, fatty, lean, aged, prime, medium-well, raw

Words I would not use to describe red meat: cute, precious, welcoming, honest, personable, loving, friendly.

So please, someone tell me if you share in my confusion of this image below....

Oh, its not clear enough? Let me help you identify exactly where I'm confused.... I'll zoom in for you.

These people must be crazy. I rest my case............at least for today.

An opening statement...

After much criticism from a nameless individual I've decided to proceed with the venture of blogging. I, myself, have criticized blogging many times. But today, I'm throwing in the towel and the stereotypes....well at least this one. As I'm sitting here now and I'm thoughtless. I can't quite figure out what to say nor why I thought this was a good idea in the first place. Definitely not the first time I've experienced this. So I guess I'll start with an apology to my friends who have blogged and I have mercilessly cracked jokes on behalf of your habit. (you know who you are)

Right now those who know me best are thinking "how has she not mispelled a word yet? or misused a punctuation mark". Well Im excited to say this blog has spell check and I've only had 56 flags thus far in this paragraph, all of which I've corrected. I will say of the blogs I've read in the past, I have been secretly jealous. But now I'm trying it out for myself and we will see if I stick to it.

So, why goats? The goating venture began after my parents bought a farm in Lewisburg, Tn. The previous residents raised Boer goats and on a pre-sale visit of the farm the owner let me bottle feed two twin goats. It was love at first sight. After the purchase of farm and the owner hauled off all of his goats...an emptiness prevailed :) We decided a few goats would be a great idea to raise on our own. Well, like rabbits, a few turned to many. There is no real purpose to having them except the mere pleasure of having a goat. Since their addition we have had a few exceptional experiences...and it makes for good stories. We witnessed the birth of twins & triplets, as well as the near-death and death of a few. Since the near-death ends on happier note, I will tell of this tale. Apparently some people in the area eat these precious dog-like animals.

One day on the farm a Honda hatchback rounded the curve that lines the perimeter of our property. The car came a quick stop as an individual reached over the neighbor's fence snatched up a beautiful baby goat and jumped back into the hatchback. Across the way, one of our farm hands happened the witness the scene and made a commotion. In response as the car took off the baby goat was then tossed back over the fence as the theives fled. Now, I've never eaten a goat, but I would image, unless kabobs are on the menu, a baby goat would become nothing more than a mere snack or appetizer. So with that said, is a snack really worth the felony?

When my friend Christy told her Pittsburg boyfriend about my goat raising his response was "Are they pure bred prize winning goats?" To humor him, I said yes. While they are probably pure bred, I have yet to enter a 4-H contest or a county fair, nor do I plan to in the future. But I will explain to you that there are many goat breeds, just as there are dog breeds. The picture at the top of this post is one of our Boer goats named Gilda. These are very common in the U.S. While these odd looking

goats on the right are a rare breed of goat that roam in Ireland called Bilberry Goats, they are near extinction and there are only 28 left! In fact this small herd lives on Bilberry Rock which was placed in a trust to protect them, but recently sold to a developer to build homes. Soon there will be no Bilberry goats left, especially if goat is on the menu in Ireland like it is in Lewisburg.

While watching the Outdoor Network this morning I witnessed the slaughter of a Mountain Goat as two avid hunters set out in the Rockies the feel like real men. Sadly as the beautiful white male Mountain Goat stepped out on a rock into their sight, BOOM, he dropped like a fat kid in dodge ball. As I'm telling my husband of this terrible act he said "Where exactly do you hunt for those?". I quickly googled to map out the home of the Mountain Goat only to find that the 'Mountain Goat' is actually no goat at all. In fact, the 'Mountain Goat' belongs to an entirely different genus. So he is nothing more than a spineless imposter who doesn't even know who he really is. A Mountain Goat is really just another large hooved mammal. So...Onward, Avid Hunters! Below is a picture of the imposter known as the Mountain G****(can't even bring myself to speak the words). So, needless to say I webcrawled my way over to priceline.com to bid on two tickets to Montana for the 2nd week of September...which just happens to be opening week of hunting season for MG's.