Cashmere goat

Cashmere is the fine soft downy winter undercoat found on many goats. This undercoat that 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. A goat which grows this fine undercoat in commercial quality and quantity is called a cashmere goat.

In 1994 China had a estimated goat population of 123 million goats and is the largest producer of cashmere down. Local breeds are dominant. In the past decades breading programs have been started to develop productive breeds <ref name="goat_conf">VI Internation Conference On Goats 6-11 May 1996 Beijing, China. International Acedemic Publishers. 1994. p. 1. </ref

See Also

Australian Cashmere Goat Changthangi