Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
herded in fl ocks by pastoral nomads. China has at least
fi ve breeds of goat that have been improved over time
by selection and which are considered to be superior
cashmere producers (that is, annual cashmere down
production greater than 300 g per head) (Teh and
Gipson, 1992). These are the Liaoning, the most pro-
ductive cashmere goat in China (McGregor et al., 1991);
Inner Mongolian White, composed of three distinct
breeds: the Alashan Downy, Albas Downy, and Erlong
Mountain Downy; and the Hexi cashmere goats. The
weight of cashmere removed by combing (10-50% guard
hair and other impurities) from commercial Liaoning
mature females (body weight [BW] = 35 kg) was reported
to be in the range of 290-380 g and measuring 6.7 cm in
length and 15.5
production in these countries over the past 20 years
gradually replacing a dwindling sheep population. Much
of the world's cashmere is still produced in traditional
areas and marketed through informal trading channels with
itinerant traders serving as sorters and middlemen between
the producers and the Chinese, Mongolian, and European
textile mills. Unlike mohair, for which reasonably accurate
production records exist, cashmere production remains
very much a matter for conjecture because, with the excep-
tions of China and Mongolia, very few offi cial records
exist (Dr. Carol Kerven, Cashmere Consultant, personal
communication September 27, 2008). The consensus
appears to be that annual world production is currently in
the range of 11-14 million kg of raw cashmere with most
of it being produced in China (60-65%) and Mongolia
(20 - 25%).
As for mohair, cashmere prices are subject to the vaga-
ries of fashion, weather conditions in the producing areas,
and subsequent production trends. Typically, processors
pay more for fi ner (
m average diameter (McGregor et al.,
1991). A more recent cashmere review (Stanton and
Brown, 1997) reported on Liaoning goats that had been in
a Chinese selection program for 10 years in which male
and female BW were 58.5 and 49.7 kg, down weights were
675 (81% yield) and 435 g (76% yield), fi ber diameters
were 15.3 and 15.1
μ
<
16.5
μ
m) compared to coarser (16.5-
m, and staple lengths were 5.9 and
5.8 cm, respectively. Obviously, the selection program
had been successful in terms of both meat and fi ber pro-
duction. In contrast, the smaller Albas Downy females
(BW = 27 kg) grow about 370 g of fi ner fi ber (14
μ
19.0
m) cashmere of comparable cleanliness, length, hair
content, luster (or lack thereof), color, style, and fi ber
diameter distribution. For example, in 2005, livestock
owners in Mongolia sold cashmere of
μ
m for US$33/
kg compared to $21/kg for cashmere in the range of 17.6-
19
<
15.5
μ
μ
m)
having comparable length.
μ
m (Lecraw, 2005 ).
Cashmere Production
Historically, cashmere was produced in the Himalayan
region from China in the east to Iran in the west. Today,
commercial quantities of cashmere are produced in China
(including Tibet), Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, Australia, and New Zealand.
Several European countries and the U.S. also produce
small quantities of cashmere. In the early 1970s, Australian
scientists (Smith et al., 1973) reported cashmere on feral
goats, and the Australian and New Zealand cashmere
industries were born. Selected Australian and New Zealand
cashmere goats were imported into the U.S. in the 1980s
and were generally bred to Spanish goats from Texas
that had also been selected for cashmere production
(Dooling and Dooling, 1996). Thus began the U.S. cash-
mere industry. During the Soviet-dominated era, many
goats in the Central Asian republics were crossed with
Russian and Angora goats, and the offspring produced
the less valuable cashgora fi ber. However, Millar
(1986) reported that some indigenous goats of the Central
Asian republics produce good quality cashmere. These
goats have served as a nucleus for increased cashmere
CASHGORA
Cashgora is produced by goats that are the result of
crossing Angoras with cashmere, feral, or dairy goats.
The animals are typically vigorous and fast growing.
Several serious attempts (for example, that of the French
dehairer, Rene Friedlin) have been made to establish cash-
gora as a bona fi de textile fi ber, and in 1988, the
International Wool Textile Organization accepted cash-
gora as a generic term for fi bers produced by Angora
cash-
mere crosses. The fi ber is typically white, lacking luster,
with a range in average fi neness from 17 - 23
×
m, staple
length of 3-9 cm (Dalton and Franck, 2001), and a rela-
tively bold (compared to cashmere) crimp. The raw fi bers
contain very little grease so that the fl uffy appearance of
the animals gives the impression of high fi ber production.
In fact, females (Angora
μ
Spanish crosses) grew only
about 0.4 kg of fl eece in their fi rst year (Blakeman et al.,
1990). World cashgora production was estimated at 200
tons in 1990. Today very little cashgora is produced and
sold as such, and most is either being handspun or is being
blended with cashmere, fi ne wool, or mohair thus losing
its identity.
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