Boo! Meet the fainting goats of Palermo and Geneva

Jaime French spends some time with her herd of myotonic goats at her Sundance Meadows Farm in the Oswego County town of Palermo.

Palermo, NY -- It's the strangest thing. Walk up to a goat at Sundance Meadows Farm in Palermo and yell "Boo."

The goat keels over in a dead faint.

These goats are myotonic goats, often called fainting goats or stiff-leg goats. Owner Jaime French said the animals don't actually faint or lose consciousness. Their muscles stiffen when they are startled, causing them to fall over.

"What they have is myotonia. It's a recessive gene that causes their outer muscles to stiffen," French said. "It doesn't hurt them. And they pop back up in a few seconds."
Myotonic, or fainting goats, are gaining popularity in the Eastern United States, so much so that French said the area needs its own myotonic goat show.

"The closest show for all of us before was in Indiana," she said.

So Aug. 1, breeders and owners from throughout the East and elsewhere will come to the state fairgrounds in Geddes to show their goats and compete for top honors in various classes.

French said there was a myotonic goat show last year at the New Jersey State Fair, which she said is about as big as the Oswego County Fair.

"They could not handle the calls from the breeders and the media," she said. "We had more than 60 animals show up for the show."

"So, I decided I'll be president, I'll take control and we'll have a show here," she said.

A goat at the Sundance Meadows Farm lies on its side with legs stiffened after being startled.

About fainting goats

• Myotonic goats are meat goats.

• The breed is popular in the South. The largest number of breeders are in Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri and North Carolina.

• There are 10 breeders of myotonic goats in New York state, according to the Myotonic Goat Registry. One is in Palermo and one is in Geneva

• Females, called does, weigh 100 to 150 pounds as adults. Males, called bucks, are 125 to 200 pounds as adults.

• Does most often have two kids at a time. The gestation period is five months. Kids weigh 3 to 5 pounds at birth.

Help wanted

Jaime French is looking for sponsors to help defray the cost of the upcoming myotonic goat show. Anyone who would like to sponsor a goat or an event should e-mail French at

The beginning of the breed dates back to about the 1880s. The story goes that the goats often were placed in sheep herds as protection.

"When a predator like a coyote would come after the sheep, the goats would faint, the sheep would get away and the coyote would take a goat," French said. "What's ironic now is the goats are worth more than the sheep."

French, who grew up on the farm in Palermo, was a horse person as a girl and young adult. But she soon decided to change specialty.

"I wanted something that was easier to handle, easier to clean up after and needed less food consumption," she said. A person offered her two fainting goats.

"That's how it all started," she said.

She now has about 30 myotonic goats with more on the way.

"They are a novelty and exotic. No one else has them in this area," she said. "And they have such great personalities."

She tried some other goat breeds, like nubians and toggenburgs. "But they weren't special to me," she said.

Heather Stewart, who raises and breeds myotonic goats north of Geneva in Ontario County, agrees.

"They are so friendly and the most docile of all the goat breeds," she said. "And one of the appeals to them is the fainting. They are one of the only animals that does that."

Stewart and French said breeders can get good money for selling the goats. French said a regular goat can sell for about $50 while she can sell a female myotonic for $300 to $600.

While French sells the goats to make a living, she is particular on who gets her goat.

There is a popular video of fainting goats on YouTube that people find when they Google the breed name.

"I screen everybody. If someone comes in here and says they saw it on YouTube, then they're not going to get them," she said.

She wants to ensure the animals are treated properly and well-cared for. Anyone who wants to have one as a pet simply to show people how they faint shouldn't apply.

--Debra J. Groom can be reached at, 470-3238 or 592-7140. Visit to check out her farm blog.