Tennessee Goats

Sometime during the 1880's a transient farm worker named John Tinsley showed up in Marshall County, Tennessee. He brought with him a sacred cow, and four goats that stiffened and sometimes fell over if startled. No one knows where he came from. He had an undetermined accent and wore a cap similar to either a fez or beret. It was thought by his dress that he came from Nova Scotia. He worked in Marshall County for a year, then sold his goats to Dr. Mayberry. Tinsley suddenly left one day after selling the goats and was never heard from again.

The heavily muscled goats were later classified as a meat breed and highly prized for their meat. From these four goats, the breed began and it is the history of the breed that is known today.

Early articles about goats with myotonia are few. The first description of the breed was made in an article in 1904 by George R. White and Joseph Plaskett. They kept a pair which were acquired from a farm in Maury County, Tennessee. This pair was kept under observation for roughly six months at the Nashville Veterinary Hospital. At that time they estimated no more than 100 of these goats existed and were thought to be a new breed. Excellent descriptions of goats displaying myotonia were given. They were able to observe a kid, which was born while the goats were under their care, have an episode of rigidity within a few hours after birth.

A brief note was published in 1908 by H. Dexler, who became interested in the article by White and Plaskett. After correspondence with some owners of myotonic goats he stated that a farmer had imported a myotonic goat from Canada. This led him to believe that the goats were not entirely a local animal. Nothing more ever became of this brief note.

Because these goats were first "found" and recognized in Tennessee, it is believed that is where they originated and thus named then the "Tennessee Goat". There is so much that is not known about these goats and there is much suspicion as to where they really came from. I greatly suspect that these goats did originate in Canada.