Fibre, yarn and fabric properties of South African indigenous goat hair

Abstract

South Africa has over 4 million indigenous goats (Boer, Savannah and Nguni/Mbusi breeds), many of which have two coats of fibre, namely a cashmere like fine down and a coarse guard hair. These goats are primarily kept for their meat, milk and skin products and for other traditional purposes, including controlling bush encroachment. A programme was launched 10 years ago aimed at establishing and improving the cashmere fibre production and associated value addition potential of these indigenous goats. Against this background, this paper discusses the joint project between the CSIR and the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture aimed at the utilization and promotion of fine down (cashmere) fibre production from indigenous goats. This paper reports on studies undertaken to determine the ability of South African indigenous goats to produce cashmere-like fibres and presents some of the results obtained on fleece samples tested during the past 10 years. Reference is made to the fibre quality, yield and profile of the down component of the samples and to the properties of yarn and fabric produced from the fine down fibres.