Oh, how did I miss these. There's even an international association for them: http://www.faintinggoat.com/ and a very interesting logo which gives the same feeling as the video does.
From the web site:
Q: What is meant by a "Premium" fainting goat?
A: Fainting Goats are registered in two categories, Premium & Regular.
1. PREMIUM Goats that readily faint. Bucks require a full down photo. Does require a down photo or one showing obvious stiffness (ready to go down).
2. REGULAR Goats that are wooden legged but dont fall over.
Poor animals...
When I was in New Zealand I visited a farm that had a few fainting sheep, (they might have been goats but I remember them looking like sheep). The guy that ran the farm told me he had trained some of the sheep to fall asleep on command. He yelled "SLEEP" and a few of them fell over I laughed so hard I actually started to cry. Later his wife told me about the genetic thing. I figured those sheep where some kind of freak mutants, until now...
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From the web site:
Q: What is meant by a "Premium" fainting goat?
A: Fainting Goats are registered in two categories, Premium & Regular.
1. PREMIUM Goats that readily faint. Bucks require a full down photo. Does require a down photo or one showing obvious stiffness (ready to go down).
2. REGULAR Goats that are wooden legged but dont fall over.
Poor animals...