Goats

The fiber, known as mohair, comes from an Angora goat. A male angora goat is called a “buck”, a female is a “doe” and their babies are “kids” – sometime called “bucklings” or “doelings”. After the first kidding angora goats are very likely to have twins or triplets.

Angora goats are shorn twice a year, in the spring, before kidding season, and in the fall, prior to breeding. Angoras normally produce 3/4″ to 1″ of hair growth per month, making adult hair average from five to six inches in length at each of the semi-annual shearing. The first sheering from a kid angora goat is the best (softest, finest) fleece that the animal will ever have.

Angoras are believed to have originated in the Himalaya Mountains of Asia. They found their way to Turkey where the name Angora was derived from Andara, the name of the province where the goats thrived. The Angora goat’s history in the United States traces back to an 1849 importation, when Dr. James B. David of Columbia, South Carolina, was given seven does and two bucks by the Sultan of Turkey in gratitude for experimental work to improve Turkey’s cotton production. Most of the large flocks of Angora goats today are found in the American South West with Texas having the greatest number. An adult male weighs between 75 and 100 pounds and a female is somewhat lighter. Their life span is around 15 to 17 years.