Normally I’d have nothing to say on this issue but you had to mention “Paddy McGinty’s Goat,” which reminded me of this old chestnut:
Bill Grogan’s goat
Was feeling fine
Ate three red shirts
From off the line.
Bill took a stick
Gave him a whack
And tied him to
The railroad track.
The whistle blew
The train grew nigh
Bill Grogan’s goat
Was doomed to die.
He gave a groan
Of awful pain
Coughed up the shirts
And flagged the train!
The column being referenced is here: If a goat ate dynamite, could it explode? - The Straight Dope
Bill Grogan’s Goat was for me also the first thing that came to mind when I read the title, although there are no actual explosions in the song. (More’s the pity: everything is better with explosions.)
One semi-related thing that interested me about the article, though, was that of the two actual names mentioned, both were Irish – or Irish-sounding, anyway: Mrs. McGlory and Patrick Mulligan. I wonder if Irishfolk were more apt to have goats than others, or – more likely – it is simple coincidence.
The blast battered Billy beyond all believable bounds…
There once was a heifer named Venus,
Who ate dynamite 'cause of her meanness;
They found her fajitas,
In old Encinitas,
And the soles of her hooves in Salinas.
Obligatory link to Johnny Carson
That’s abominable!
Twice!
No, that’s abdominal!
Not a goat, and not an actual award winner, but
Phenomenal Failure
2001 At-Risk Survivor
Unconfirmed by Darwin
(February 2001, Michigan) A 28-year-old demolition worker attempted to commit suicide by washing down nitroglycerine pills with vodka. Normally suicide is not worthy of an At-Risk Survivor, but this man’s failure was exceptional. After swallowing the pills, he tried to explode the nitroglycerine by repeatedly ramming himself into a wall.
He was treated for bruises and released from the hospital… with counselling.
This guy made it into Wiki.
Oh, the things that happen to Kirk’s crew. 
Suggested reading: “Indecent Exposure” by Tom Sharpe. Part of the plot involves exploding ostriches.
Exploding Goats are nothing, compared to Incendiary Pigs!
Or, for that matter, Orbital Goat Cannons.
With regards to goats eating dynamite and then exploding, I think the risky element is the actual process of eating. If the dynamite is stable, then there shouldn’t be much risk (without a detonator), and then the goat will begin digesting and absorbing the nitroglycerin. I’m not sure how digestable it is by goats. What is the likelihood that the nitroglycerin will simultaneously come out of the absorbent filler enough to be hazardous and remain intact in the goat stomach enough to be detonatable? I suspect there is zero risk there.
However, if the dynamite is unstable, what that means is the nitroglycerin has started “sweating”, i.e. coming out of the filler material and condensing/pooling on the surface. This means you have liquid nitroglycerin in some quantity. Add in the chewing process by a goat, and you have the highly unstable explosive mixed with a grinding process. That could lead to your goat-boom.
It was abominable. In the end, though, noble.
Y’know, I expected the goat to be the butt of many baaaad jokes. I didn’t really expect anyone to have a beef with the cow.
Whennnn … the cow’s in the sky like a tossed pizza pie, that’s abominable!
True, but bats are sneakier.
This is anecdotal, but I have every reason to believe that it’s true.
This was related to me by one of my uncles and attested to as true by numerous other people.
For various reasons, people would sometimes commit arson by setting fires in the woods of North Central Louisiana. It was referred to as “firing the woods”. :eek:
The method employed was to catch a stray cat, then take a burlap sack and soak it in kerosene and tie the sack to the animals tail with a 2-3 foot long piece of ‘baling’ wire, set the sack on fire and release it.
The frightened animal would run thru the woods and every so often it would get tired/out of breath and stop. Every time it stopped, the burning sack would start a small fire in the undergrowth (dry leaves, pine straw, etc.).
The animal would become frightened by the growing fire and start running again.