Cashmere goat

The cashmere goat is a phenotype of the domestic goat, which is one of the wool goats. Defines the cashmere goat on the mean diameter of the wool of less than 19 microns. In the area of ​​origin of the Himalayas and Pamirs and their outskirts, these schlappohrige and horned goat is gray, white, black and brown in color strokes before. In Europe, white animals are almost exclusively bred, as the white wool can be colored as desired.

Cashmere goats, of which there are about 20 subtypes, distinguished by a long, fine undercoat. The wool is much finer than the thinnest sheep's wool and is one of the finest animal hair at all ( to the other species with unusually fine wool include the musk ox and the vicuna ).

The animals are sheared in the industrialized countries, otherwise the undercoat is plucked or combed. Every year between 150 and 200 grams of wool can be obtained per animal. The world's largest cashmere wool producer is China. Large farms for cashmere production are also found in Australia and New Zealand. In Europe, Scotland is a leader.