Regular readers will know the answer already but this is for whoever it was who typed this question into their search engine and found their way here.
No, we do not kill goats or sheep for fleece. It is an annual crop, or, in the case of the Angoras, a twice a year crop. Cashmere, wool and mohair are all renewable resources. The animals are shorn with electric powered shears as below:
This picture actually shows Raymond having a “cuddle break”. The Angoras are absolutely comfortable with him and frequently nod off! He is so quiet and gentle with them. Using this set of electronic clippers we remove the fleece from the sheep (wool) and the mohair from Angora goats.
The cashmere goats have to be combed, not shorn. You could shear but you take off so much of the rough outer coat which costs so much in time and effort to separate from the delicate cashmere underneath.
Combing the cashmere
The goats don’t seem to mind and we take the opportunity to give them a thorough check looking at teeth and feet to make sure all is well.
When we take goats or sheep for slaughter, which we do occasionally, we sometimes have the skins back for tanning. One lady at IKNIT two years ago asked me if the skins grew back. I did have to go into fairly graphic detail to make her understand why not but she eventually understood. It was a sharp lesson to me in just how far apart town and country have become. This question about killing sheep and goats for their fleece is another. It explains so much of the frustration and difficulty on both sides when issues such as hunting, badger culling and TB come up for discussion. Without at least SOME real understanding on both sides, reasoned argument is not possible.
I’m patient with children who think goats and sheep are killed for their fleece, but adults? I roll my eyes and don’t answer them. I’m as city as city can be, and *I* know about shearing!
I show the kids, the human ones, pictures of the goatly sort, and they fall in love! The silly grin on a goat’s face when it is in the stand being combed or clipped tells it all…
I also have a picture of a llama looking at his lambie pal after his first shearing like, “Is that *you*? What did you do to your hair? Did it hurt?” Reminds me of my nephew’s first haircut!
–jayne
By: sgt_majorette on September 1, 2009
at 4:34 pm
Hi Jayne,
You are so right about the animals not recognising each other after their haircut. I always try to choose a strong personality to be first so they can put up with all the horsing around when they go back in the pen with the others!
You are the sort of townie we want!! Interested and educated about what they are buying. I don’t know what the answer is about the other sort. We as the farming community must take some of the blame/responsibility for this. Some of us try (hence this Blog) but more are needed!!
By: devonfinefibres on September 1, 2009
at 4:41 pm