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A cashmere goat is a type of goat that produces
cashmere wool Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from cashmere goats, pashmina goats, and some other breeds of goat. It has been used to make yarn, textiles and clothing for hundreds of years. Cashmere is closely associate ...
, the goat's fine, soft, downy, winter undercoat, in commercial quality and quantity. This undercoat grows as the day length shortens and is associated with an outer coat of coarse hair, which is present all the year and is called guard hair. Most common goat breeds, including dairy goats, grow this two-coated fleece. The down is produced by secondary follicles, the guard hair by the primary follicles. In 1994, China had an estimated population of 123 million goats and is the largest producer of cashmere down. Local breeds are dominant. In the past decades, breeding programs have been started to develop productive breeds. The cashmere goat is a fiber goat along with the
Pygora goat The Pygora goat is a breed of goat that originated from crossing the registered NPGA Pygmy goat and the white AAGBA Angora goat. Pygoras, along with the Angora goat and Cashmere goat, are fiber goats (goats bred for their wool). Pygora goats pr ...
, Nigora goat, and the
Angora goat Angora may refer to: Places *Angora, the historic name of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey *Angora, Philadelphia ** Angora (SEPTA station), a commuter rail station * Angora, Minnesota * Angora Township, Minnesota * Angora, Nebraska * Angora L ...
. The goats take their name from their origin in the Himalayan region of Kashmir region with the word "cashmere" deriving from an anglicisation of Kashmir.


Cashmere-producing breeds


Australian cashmere goat

The foundation stock for the Australian Cashmere Goat was taken from northern and western Australia from the local bush goat population in the late 1970s. The production varies from herd to herd, with the most productive herds averaging 250 grams at a diameter of 15 μm. There is a breed and fleece standard, and active development of the breed continues with the University of Western Australia running a sire referencing scheme.


Changthangi (Kashmir Pashmina) cashmere goat

The
Changthangi The Changthangi or Changpa is a breed of cashmere goat native to the high plateaus of Ladakh in northern India. It is closely associated with the nomadic Changpa people of the Changthang plateau. It may also be known as the Ladakh Pashmina ...
or Pashmina goat is found in China ( Tibet), Mongolia, Myanmar,
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
, Nepal, UT of Ladakh. They are raised for cashmere production and used as pack animals. The breed is most often white, but black, gray and brown animals also occur. They have large, twisting horns. This bloodline produces the finest Cashmere with an average diameter between 12-13 μm and average fiber length between 55-60mm. It is very rare and constitutes less than 0.1% of global cashmere production.


Hexi

The
Hexi Cashmere The Hexi Cashmere goat breed from desert and semidesert regions of the North Gansu province of China is used primarily for the production of cashmere fiber. About 60% of the goats are white. The Hexi cashmere can be found in the Gansu, Qinghai an ...
has a long history in desert and semidesert regions of
Gansu Province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
, China. About 60% of the goats are white. The Hexi cashmere can be found in the Gansu,
Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
and Ningxia provinces. A typical adult doe produces 184 grams of down at 15.7 μm diameter.


Inner Mongolia cashmere goat

The Inner Mongolia cashmere goat is a local dual-purpose breed with a long history. It adapts well to desert and semidesert pastures. The goats can be divided into five strains, Alasan (Alashanzuoqi), Arbus, Erlangshan, Hanshan and Wuzhumuqin. The first three strains produce quality cashmere; the last two have been developed for high production. The average down yield is about 240
grams Grams is the plural of gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volum ...
, with an average down diameter between 14.3 and 15.8 μm. The cashmere length is between 41 and 47 mm. In 1994, the total Inner Mongolian goat population was approximately 2.3 million goats.


Liaoning cashmere goat

Breeding animals were selected in the 1960s from six counties in the eastern mountain area of Liaoning Province. The herd has been continually developed since then, and used to improve the cashmere herd throughout China. The Liaoning goat is mainly found in the Buyun mountains in the Liaodong Peninsula. The breed was formally named the Liaoning cashmere goat by the
Chinese Ministry of Agriculture The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) was an executive state agency within the government of the People's Republic of China. Its responsibilities were assumed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on March 19, 2018. Areas of responsibilit ...
in 1984. By 1994, selected Liaoning does were producing 326 g of down at 15 μm diameter. The selection work emphasizes size, length of body, quantity and quality of cashmere, the ability to climb, sturdiness, conformation and growth.


Licheng Daqing goat

The Licheng Daqing goat is a dual-purpose breed from the Shanxi Province, China. The down is usually brown, but the color can vary. The average doe down yield is 115 g at 14 μm diameter.


Luliang black goat

This dual-purpose goat is found in the
Lüliang Lüliang or Lyuliang () is a prefecture-level city in the west of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Shaanxi province across the Yellow River to the west, Jinzhong and the provincial capital of Taiyuan to the east, Linfen to ...
area; it produces a small quantity of dark down.


Tibetan Plateau goat

In 1994, there were more than 7 million Tibetan Plateau and Valley goats in Tibetan Plateau regions of People's Republic of China. Five million were in Tibet Autonomous Region, 1 million in Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures in Sichuan, half a million in
Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
and about 100,000 in Gansu. There are also a small number of Tibetan goats in India and Nepal. The Tibetan plateau goats are kept for down production. In 1994, an adult doe's average down production was 197 g, while the average adult buck's down production was 261 g.


Wuzhumuqin

This Inner Mongolian strain is a new breed, recognized in 1994, and is distributed mainly in Xilingele Meng. The development of the breed started in 1980. By 1994, the breed had 372 nucleus herds and 681 selection herds. The bucks have thick, long horns and 85% of the does are horned. Ninety eight percent of the herd is white. The developers of the breed claim the lustre of the fleece is better than the Liaoning goat. The average production of a Wuzhumuqin adult does in 1994 was 285 g at 15.6 μm diameter; the average down length was 46 mm.


Zalaa Jinst White goat

Th
Zalaa Jinst White goat
is the only entirely white breed of cashmere goat in Mongolia recognized by the Mongolian Wool & Cashmere Association, found in the southwest region of the Gobi Desert, where it has adapted well to Gobi desert nomadic herding. The average cashmere production for males is 380 grams; adult female is 290 grams with fibers averaging 16.0-16.5 microns in diameterZalaa Jinst white strain
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Zhongwei cashmere goats

The Zhongwei goat originated in the semidesert and desert area around Zhongwei in Ningxia and Gansu Provinces in China, and are famous for their kid fur and cashmere production. The average fiber production for does is 216 g at 15 μm diameter.


See also

*
William Windsor (goat) William "Billy" Windsor I is a cashmere goat who served as a lance corporal in the 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh, an infantry battalion of the British Army. He served as a lance corporal from 2001 until 2009, except for a three-month period i ...


References

{{Authority control Fiber-producing goat breeds Goat breeds Cashmere wool Goat breeds originating in India