Has anyone heard the phrase "Goat froze over in a backyard?"

Where did it come from and how is it used in a sentence?

Boy, I've never ever heard that, kwilder. What part of the world are you from?

I have never heard of it so it probably isn't from UK.

And I do not think it is Australian, either- I have never heard the term.

I've heard the expression 'cold enough to freeze the b**** off a brass monkey', but nothing about goats, so it's evidently not Irish either.

There's an urban myth about the brass monkey saying, which claims it refers to the dimpled brass plate on which was stored a pyramid of cannonballs on old sailing warships. In very cold weather, supposedly the plate contracted far more than the iron cannonballs, which then became unstable and tumpled off the plate, ie the monkey, hence 'cold enough to freeze the b**** off a brass monkey'!
In fact the different contractions or expansions of the two metals, in the temperatures likely to be encountered at sea, is almost unnoticeable. In any case storing cannonballs in a pyramid formation would have been totally impractical in a sea going ship.
It's a nice story though, I have to admit!

I have never heard that phrase either. I have heard the phrase Santana mentioned, but don't know where the goat reference is from.

I wonder if it is alternate lyrics for:

Grandma got run over by a reindeer (you just have to sing this, I don't write music) :-)
Goat froze over in a backyard!

Yep, works for me! **chuckle, chuckle** (That's been bouncing around in my mind since this question was posted!)

However, I did check the phrase out in four different unusual phrase books and could find nothing even remotely close to the phrase.

I am not easily annoyed but when a person arrives on the site, asks a question then doesn't return I do find it annoying. We are never going to know if s/he found out the answer. At the very least it is good manners when people try to find an answer for them, to thank them and to let them know if it is correct. If they subsequently find the correct answer then to post it to put us out of our misery. Rant over.

Rant seconded!

I tried googling the whole phrase, and found only two references - both to this thread only, so looks like a misquote.

I think Google go hit by many of us trying to assist, which is why I get annoyed, we have spent time trying to help.

Sorry, I got caught up with other stuff and went away for the weekend in search of an answer to this goat phrase. I still don't have an answer to where this phrase came from. I'm from a farm town and we use the phrase all the time.

We use it when we are talking about someone being boring and unnoticeable at a party. That person is being "a goat froze over in the backyard"

It's not a Canadian saying.

A "goat froze over" eh? That happens to the caribou sometimes, but goats? LOL

In Canada we would more refer to such a person as being a "wallflower".

Often these particularly flowery sayings go back to a local story, so if a local person kept their goat in the back yard 100 years ago during a heavy frost and it ended up in the deep freeze the next morning, that would become a little story that ends up as a phrase while the people who remembered the original incident had died out.
If not it's just from people with a fertile imagination, but I have visions of a poor goat in the 19th century or thereabouts inadvertently ending up as the next week's meal...
So ask around older people and see if they remember the story behind the phrase, there are frequently very logical and obscure reasons for these if you can track them down.

Never heard of the phrase before definitely isn't Welsh, we are usually associated with sheep

There is actually a type of goat (we call them fainting goats) that startles quite easily. Sometimes they just stand still and real stiff as if they are hoping to not be noticed. Other times they actually fall over, still stiff as a board. I'm not sure if they actually faint or if they are playing 'possum' but it is rather funny.
From the reference you provided, I would say it's plausible that the quote bases it's origins from the actions of these goats in comparison to the actions of a human that is being rather shy or frightened.
It would be a regional derivative of 'a deer caught in the headlights'. But then I would assume for the phrase to become popular, someone actually had some of these goats and that makes me question why you never heard of them.
As I am not from where you are, I cannot say for certain that I'm correct but I hope my reply helps anyway.