# Anyone have angora or cashmere goats?



## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

Or other fiber breeds... 

Someone mentioned goats used for fiber in a PM to me recently. Ive read a few article son it since then. So Im curious if anyone here has raised these and collected the hair? made your own yarn? I wanted to try making my own clothing one day just to say I did. The only plant fiber that I think would grow well here is currently illegal. 

Im wondering how it compares to wool? I guess its lighter weight and warmer then wool, but how easy is it to work with? Do you have to keep up with cutting their hair like you have to shear sheep, or can you let it wait until you need it?? 

Any info on fiber breeds would be interesting!


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Angoras HAVE to be sheered twice a year. (Unlike sheep, who are shorn once per year.) If you don't sheer them, you are opening them up to all sorts of external parasite problems, not to mention that the hair will matt and you could have difficulties with both skin yeast infections, and fly strike.

Angoras will give about 10-20 pounds of mohair per year. It's about the same coarseness as medium grade sheep wool. I found it easy to work with both on the wheel and on the loom. My preferred use for it is in blankets. It has about the same warming ability as wool, but it doesn't feel as scratchy. Also makes a finer feeling sock than sheep wool.

Any goat can produce cashmere. It is simply that some goats have been bred to produce more of it. Cashmere is the winter undercoat, or down, that goats make to stay warm in winter, and they shed it in spring. While any goat can make cashmere, the reason it is expensive is because no goat makes much of it. Even those that have been specially bred for cashmere production don't make more than a pound or so per year. That being said, it can be well worth collecting in spring. Cashmere is sold by the ounce, with prices as low as $12 per ounce, and as high as $25 per ounce, depending. 

You can harvest cashmere by either combing it out when they shed it in spring, or sheering them in spring and running the fleece through a dehairing process.

In either case, the fiber breeds of goats are not something that will just hang on to the fiber until you need it. Angoras have to be sheered to prevent health problems, and cashmere is only shed in spring... if you miss out on collecting it, you are SOL.


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

Wow! thanks for that. 

I didnt realize there were two means of getting the hair. the few articles I had read didnt mention that. Im going to have to look into collecting it this spring. 

There is a herd of cashmere goats not to far from me, I might have to see what they would want for a doe. 

Do you think I could sell the cashmere from goats not bred for it? I know you said they have less, but is it also marketable? At those prices it might be a great way to pay for a bit of the goats feed.


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## MaddieLynn (Nov 23, 2011)

No, you wouldn't be able to sell cashmere from other goat breeds. There's so little you can't even tell it's there.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

~smiles~ Cashmere is cashmere, and is sold by grade. Grade consists of staple length (how long the hair is) and thickness (how many microns wide the hair is. It has to be 19 microns or less to be considered true cashmere).

No matter what the goat is that it came from, cashmere can be sold. There is a market for it among home spinners if you are not producing a lot of it. Price is going to be based more on the condition of the cashmere. Washed and carded cashmere, that is clean and has no bits of debris in it, will, of course, command higher prices than raw cashmere.

Oh, all goat breeds CAN produce cashmere, but not all goats DO produce cashmere. And the staple length from cashmere from, say, a Nigerian Dwarf, wouldn't be long enough to be useful. Not to mention, if you are only getting a quarter of an ounce from a goat, it isn't really worth the time it takes to comb them. (Unless, of course, you enjoy combing out your goats. I do, and in spring, I have a little bucket in my milk room. I just comb them out with my Furminator and clean out the Furminator into the bucket. )

With a goat that is producing a LOT of cashmere, say a pound like the commercial stock does, it might make more sense to sheer them instead of combing them. Unless you only have a couple of animals, in which case you and they might enjoy having a week or two in spring where they get combed every day.


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## MaddieLynn (Nov 23, 2011)

What I mean is you won't be able to just shear a random goat and sell it. I know any goat *can* get the gene to produce cashmere, but I personally have never seen a goat that wasn't part cashmere produce it. My long-winded point: if you're getting, say, dairy goats, don't plant on selling cashmere.

ETAto the OP) our next door neighbors have 50+ cashmere goats and hers are some of the best in our region. I've been heavily involved in working with them so if you have any more questions, let me know!


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

I really would like to get a cashmere goat now. I find this very neat. 

The main question Id have left I can think of is how well does the cashmere trait hold up when crossed into other lines? if I cross them to my nigerians for instance, can I end up with useful cashmere producing animals?


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

MaddieLynn said:


> What I mean is you won't be able to just shear a random goat and sell it. I know any goat *can* get the gene to produce cashmere, but I personally have never seen a goat that wasn't part cashmere produce it. My long-winded point: if you're getting, say, dairy goats, don't plant on selling cashmere.


Exactly. Some Saanans and Alpines produce cashmere, as well as some Nubians, due to long, long ago (centuries ago) outcrosses with Turkish and Middle Eastern Cashmere goats. The genes for the secondary hair follicle production are floating around, even in some dairy goats.

But definitely not ALL goats have it. Any goat CAN have it, though. Outside of the specific, cashmere breeds, it is an individual thing. Even then, staple length, microns, and production are an issue on whether or not you just have a handful the you collect in spring, and run it through your fingers for the nice feel before letting the wind take it away, or if you have enough to *useful* fiber to do something with, or sell.

~smiles~ I collect fiber from everyone on the place except for the short-haired cats and the short-haired goats. I even collect the winter shed from the horse. (She gets shaggy in winter, so it's long enough to do something with) My Kangal-type Anatolian provides me with fiber year round. LOL I am CONSTANTLY combing him out. Mostly, I just gather it all up and mix it up to use as felting, which, once made, I can either use as a dense fabric, or cut into strips to weave.

Unless you get cashmere goats, or cashmere-dairy cross goats, don't plan on getting a lot.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

I would not cross cashmeres with Nigerians. There ARE fiber/mini crosses, the Pygora comes to mind, but mohair is LONG in a standard-sized animal. Cashmere doesn't have NEAR that length. It averages about 2 1/2-3' or so. Outcross with a Nigerian or a Pygmy and, even if they are good producers, the staple isn't long enough to be useful at all. You end up with cute, fuzzy goats that do not milk well, and do not produce good fiber.


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

Oh well, it would have been a neat trait to have in my herd.


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