What is an Angora goat (Angora goat)?

The Angora goat breed originated in the Angora valley on the Central Anatolian High Plains in Turkey. These goats are known worldwide for their beautiful wool. The wool of this goat is also known as mohair. The word mohair comes from the Arabic word "mukhayyar". The goat skin comes in two different colors namely white and black. Most Angora goats are found in South Africa, America, Australia and Canada.

What are characteristics of Angora goats?

Angora goats are medium-sized and quiet and are easy to handle. It is a curious breed of goat that makes little noise and has no tendency to break out.

Both bucks and goats are horned. The bucks have backward-facing horns with a slight twist in them. Goats have smaller horns compared to a buck; a goat's horns are also rear-facing but have no curl.

An Angora goat buck weighs between 30 and 50 kilograms. And the goats weigh between 25 and 40 kilograms. The bucks have the advantage of not smelling, only during the breeding season. The gestation period of a goat is about 150 days, which can sometimes be shorter but sometimes longer. The goats finish their lambing well by themselves. The lambs like to climb, adult goats climb less often than the lambs.

The first shorn coat on a lamb is called "Kid-mohair". This is very fine and beautiful wool. Per month the coat grows about 2 cm. Twice a year the goats are sheared. An adult male goat yields about 4 kilograms of wool, a female goat about 3 kilograms and an Angora lamb 1.5 kilograms. The wool can be used for many purposes. For example, mohair is used in clothing such as scarves, hats, suits, sweaters, jackets and socks. But the wool is also used for various home furnishings such as carpets, wall fabrics and handicraft yarns.

The history of the Angora goat

Angora goats were around long before Cristus. In the year 2500 B.C., mosaics were found near the city of Ur in Iraq depicting goats with coats and horns that are strikingly similar to the Angora goat. In the 13th century AD (year 1201 to 1300), several goats were taken by the Turkish invasions to Angora, Asia Minor. The first Angora goats were imported to the Netherlands in the year 1541 by Charles V. In the 19th century (1801 to 1900), the goats were mainly transported to America, Canada, Argentina and New Zealand. Due to the increasing demand for mohair, some Angora goats were crossed with other breeds. However, because of these crosses, the pure Angora breed was declining more and more. Worldwide there are about 7 million Angora goats to be found most of them in South Africa, America, Australia and Canada.