Goat-Hair Fibers
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
GLEN ROCK (York Co.)
Sheep-to-shawl demonstrations
and contests, highlighting all the
processes through which wool is
converted from a raw commodity
into a stylish, warm fashion acces
sory, have become popular Farm
Show events.
But how about a goat-to-shawl
display? Members of the Pennsyl
vania Mohair and Cashmere
Growers Association (PMCGA)
plan such a demonstration, utiliz
ing goat fleece fibers as part of the
Farm Show’s annual Sheep-To-
Shawl festivities.
The warp threads of the shawl
will be half mohair and half cash
mere, so the finished shawl will
actually be one-fourth mohair, one
fourth cashmere, and one half
wool,” said Binnie Roig, Dalma
tia, president of the PMCGA.
The mohair and cashmere pro
ducers group was founded four
years ago by three producers of
goat fleece fibers. Through attend
ing the Farm Show’s dairy goat
show, they made initial contact
with other potential members. The
PMGCA numbers more than 20.
“Our purpose is to promote the
fiber goats,” said Binnie Roig.
Through participation in the
sheep-to-shawl event, along with
their display and demonstrations
in the Family Living area of the
Farm Show on Monday and Tues
day, PMGCA members look for
ward to further educating visitors
about mohair and cashmere. They
also hope to stimulate increased
interest in the use of these strong,,
soft, and warm natural fibers.
While mohair and cashmere are
Homestead
Notes
~ . , jdortf •» using yam of pure cashmere to knit a
christening gown for her infant son.
‘Goat-To-Shawl’ Dis
both products of goats, the fibers
are handled in very different ways
Mohair is the fleece of Angora
goats, a natural fiber that is long
and wavy with a rich, lustrous
shine. It is obtained by regular
shearing of the Angora goat’s
fleece, just as sheep are sheared to
harvest their wool.
Cashmere, in contrast, is the
soft, downy undercoating of a
goat’s fleece. It can be produced
by many different breeds of goats.
Certain breeds or strains of goats
are more likely to produce the
longer, crimped undercoat, with at
least three-fourths-inch long hairs
that qualifies as cashmere. Cash-
mere goat fiber production on can
be enhanced by crossing blood
lines with a good quality, long and
undercoat growth.
Goats grow the cashmere
through the summer and fall
months as an insulating layer
against the cold of winter. Cash
mere fiber is “harvested”, .by
combing it from the goat in early
spring, when the natural shedding
process loosens it from the skin. It
can also be obtained by shearing
the fleece. Shorn fleeces, howev
er, are usually less valuable, since
they tend to be contaminated with
the longer, coarse outer hair,
known in the trade as “guard hair.”
Guard hair can be used for more
coarse wool purposes, such as rug
making, but does not command
the higher price of the finer, soft
undercoat.
What is known as Angora wool
does got come from goats at all,
but from Angora rabbits. So, while
Angora rabbits produce angora
wool. Angora goats produce
mohair. Sources of these natural
la
Produce Top-Quality Yams
Greta Dlsa gets an affectionate nuzzle from Splash, a favorite pet from the family’s fiber*
producing goat herd.
fibers is thus often confusing for
the average consumer.
■ “At the Farm Show, we will be
presenting talks and spinning
demonstrations, displaying com
pleted garments and plan to have
both raw and ready-to-spin fibers
available for sale,” said Greta
Dime, vice president of the
PMGCA. “There will also be both
Angora and Cashmere goats on
display.”
Greta, her husband Bob, and
their family raise about 20 Angora
and cashmere goats at their Glen
Rock farm. An avid wool enthusi
ast, Greta has raised sheep for may
years, with a special emphasis on
the natural-colored breeds. She
became interested in the goats as
an alternative fiber to use in her
spinning and knitting projects.
“I was buying mohair to blend
with sheep wool and decided to
look into buying a few Angora
goats,” Greta said. “I came home
with six does and a couple of
bucks.”
“It probably would have been
cheaper to just buy the fleeces,”
she adds with a grin, relating how
the goat herd has expanded.
This year, she introduced dark
colored genetics into her Angora
herd by crossing selected does to a
black buck. Dark-colored kids
resulting from the crosses cannot
be registered, however. Only all
white Angora goats meet pedigree
requirements.
Whether registered or not,
Angora goats have a gentle tem
perament, according to those who
tend and breed these four-footed
alternative fiber sources.
“They’re sort of between a
sheep and a dairy goat in personal
ity, but are more personable than
sheep,” said Leslie Orndorff,
Brodbecks, who shares Greta
Disc’s goals of generating public
interest and demand for mohair
and cashmere. “Angora goats
don’t have as offensive an odor as
do some of the breeds and they
aren’t ‘escape artists’ like dairy
goals.”
Leslie’s job on a farm where
Angora goats were included in the
livestock variety raised there led
her to “fall in love” with the gentle
breed. She and her husband Ron
already kept a few sheep on their
13-acre farm near Glenville, so
adding her first Angora goats five
years ago was an easy venture to
try. The couple now has a flock of
At Farm Show
Mohair fiber from her Angora goats is spun into yarn b'
Greta Dise.
25 registered breeding animals,
along with a small flock of
wethers she keeps for their fiber
production.
“Goat’s are browsers and sheep
are grazers, so they work well
together,” says Leslie.
Because Angora goats do like
to browse on what might often be
considered weeds or pest plants,
their appetites make them useful
for clearing old pastures or brushy
undergrowth. That same tendency,
however, causes their long fleeces
to pick up and retain bits of leaves,
twigs, weeds and grasses that con
taminate the fleece.
“With mohair, you have to
wash it and wash it and wash it
more to get the fleece clean,” said
Leslie,
Marketing their mohair pro
duction is a challenge Greta,
Lancaster Firming, Friday, January 6, 1995-B5
Leslie and other members of the
fledgling fiber producers associa
tion are tackling, both as a group
and in their own individual pur
suits. Since most of the members’
flocks are small, amounts of fiber
generated at a shearing are .not
enough to justify the time and
costs of hauling it to a wool pool.
Thus, their involvement in cre
ative marketing on their own is of
necessity.
Several PMCGA members
have found that sheep and wool
festivals in the region are useful
for helping to generate increased
interest and demand for their pro
duction. Hand spinners, knitters,
and weavers often attend such fes
tivals in search of special fleeces
or yarns not readily available
through mass retail marketing
(Turn to Pag* 87)