Friday, January 1, 2021

Cashmere, Cashgora, or Algora???

Last year when I discovered that our Alpine dairy goat had not gotten bred to the dairy goat buck I had leased early in the fall, I ended up breeding her with the only other available buck, which happened to be a fine fleeced white angora goat buck. Basically this was a way to bring her into milk; I assumed that the kids would either be adorable fuzzy weed eaters or suitable as dinner/bath rug. When the kids (doe, buck) were born on May 5, I was stunned at how soft and plushy they felt, in addition to being such a beautiful shiny white color. As they grew, they got ever fuzzier and by fall the little doe (Crosstitch) clearly need a trim as she was starting to develop mats and the fiber was about 4 inches long. With the assistance of a friend, I sheared her blanket area and put a coat on her. We combed her legs belly and neck fiber, but left the fiber to help her stay warm. I ended up with about 8 oz of fiber from that feels very soft and silky. The most similar fiber I can compare it to is suri alpaca, or silk. Her brother (Loomis) is similar in fiber type, but the fiber was perhaps 2 inches long in the fall. Using this fiber will be an interesting learning journey.