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Cashmere Goats

“Specializing in Red Cashmere Goats”

Breeding Stock and

Naturally Colored Cashmere Fiber

for Spinning and Weaving

Foxmoor Farm is a small farm located in the hills above Silverton, Oregon. We bought our first Cashmere goat in 1991. Our goal is to produce solid colored cashmere goats with good conformation and an even length and style of fiber for spinning and weaving. Our goats have short guard hair and produce a clear naturally colored cashmere fiber that is 2 1/2" long with coverage over the entire body.

American Cashmere Goats are descendants of feral dairy goats from Australia and native Spanish meat goats from Texas. Breeders in Australia found that the feral goats grew a “cashmere” fiber similar to goats from the Middle East and China. Developed and refined in large commercial herds in Australia and Tasmania, a few Australian goats were imported in 1980 to begin the cashmere industry in the U.S.A.

Cashmere goats are double coated fiber goats with an under down “cashmere” grown for warmth under harsher guard hair. The colder the weather, the more cashmere fiber they produce. In Oregon the cashmere fiber grows from September to February. Babies grow their cashmere fiber throughout their first year. Our adult goats shed their extra guard hair and are smooth in appearance throughout the summer. Cashmere fiber becomes visible on our adult goats usually in early September. By December the entire herd is fully covered in their winter fiber. [See the end pictures of yearlings above the text.] The cashmere fiber is naturally shed in the Spring and is harvested by either combing or shearing. Cashmere fiber is unique in that it is weighs very little but is warm. The fibers trap the air and warmth next to the skin.

We hand comb and hand de-hair all our cashmere fiber to ensure a quality fiber from start to finish. We produce a natural colored cashmere fiber that can be used 100% in spinning and weaving that will make a beautiful project that will last for many years. We process all our fiber at our farm and it takes several months to finish. A limited amount of our cashmere fiber is available only at our booth at the Black Sheep Gathering in late June.

Our emphasis since 2003 has been the development of a line of “Red Cashmere” goats. Our herd is red only. Several generations of red goats from our own breeding now appear in the background. As a result, our goats get darker with age and do not fade out. The body color is a dark red-orange with a darker red head, legs, back ridge and tail. Cashmere fiber is not the same color as the body color. The cashmere fiber color of our herd is almond, yellow and apricot. Only 1 in 4 red goats produce the rarer yellow and apricot fiber.

Farm visits are always welcome.

We are available from March - September

but please call or e-mail us in advance.

For the well being

of our goats,

we suspend

farm visits during

breeding season

and the

birth of the babies.

But we are available

any time