Meet Billy the Goat! Billy is one of our newest additions to the farm. He came to us as a baby during the spring of 2020, donated by our volunteers from the Project LIVE program at Holmen High School.

Billy loves when people stop by and feed him treats, especially carrots. Please don’t be afraid if Billy gets startled and falls over because Billy is a Myotonic goat, also known as a fainting goat. That means he might fall over if he gets surprised or frightened.

Although these goats are commonly known as fainting goats, they don’t really faint. What actually happens is the muscles in his legs tighten for about 3 seconds and he falls over. But don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt him! Fainting goats usually grow out of this behavior. When the goats get older they tend to become more aware of their surroundings and try to balance when they feel startled and are about to faint.

Billy is growing up, but he still tends to faint sometimes. One day he was so startled by a car horn that he fell over and rolled down a hill! We have two older fainting goats at the farm named Ruthie and Billy Bob. They have grown out of their fainting habits.

We welcome you to say hello to Billy the next time you visit the farm. He is very sweet and loves getting pets!