Red is a beautiful color.  And a dark Red Cashmere Goat in full fleece is a joy to see. Cashmere goats are double coated goats with guard hair and a down undercoat (the cashmere fiber).  In Oregon the cashmere fiber grows when the weather is cold from September to February.  During the summer our goats are smooth all over their body in appearance.  A Cashmere goat’s body and cashmere fiber color are not the same color. Only a “true” white and a few gray goats have the same body and fiber color.  A Red Cashmere has the body color of an Irish Setter with either almond, yellow and apricot naturally colored cashmere fiber.

Red is a “rare” color and not easy to produce and maintain.  A through knowledge of genetics and strict herd management is required.  A red goat will occasionally pop out in a herd but never reproduce a red baby.  The red color is a weak double recessive color gene.  Both parents must be red or have the red gene (preferably on both sides of the pedigree) to produce a red baby. Those who do not have the red body color but have a red parent are called “red carriers”.  Two red carriers bred together will only have a 1 in 4 chance of having a red baby. The red gene can be overpowered and suppressed unless you line breed and inbreed within family lines. Since red breeding stock is not readily available, we had to develop our own red bloodlines. In our herd, we have found success in producing and maintaining the red color by keeping our own line of red herd bucks.  They are the heart of our herd and we bring in outside bloodlines through the does.   We follow a strict breeding criteria to maintain the red color. We do not keep any white, grays, or black goats with gray fiber.  We select our breeding stock with the goal of producing a brightness and clarity of color in both the body color and the cashmere fiber color. Our goats do not fade out but get darker in color with age.  The reason: Years of selective breeding with more red ancestors in the pedigree and removal of undesirable colors that overpower the fiber and body color.

In technical terms, a “true” red is a Self agouti with the black suppressed and the yellow expressed in the body color and fiber.  The body color ranges from light orange to dark red. The skin is brown all over with brown horns and hooves.  The eyes are yellow but some can have blue eyes.  There are lighter shaded areas around the eyes and muzzle. The legs, lower belly, dorsal stripe and end of the tail are a darker red.  Some of the lighter red shades will have tear drop patterns appear on the face.  The cashmere fiber will be either almond, yellow or apricot. The yellow and apricot fiber color are rarer and only appears on 1 in 4 red goats.

We hope you will enjoy and appreciate the red color of our goats and their beautiful fiber. We have worked long and hard (9 years now) to develop a pure “Red Cashmere” line. Our greatest success would be if you, the new “red cashmere” breeder, would follow our example. 1) To keep your goats 100% Cashmere, 2) to breed your cashmere goats to maintain and reproduce the clarity of the red body color and naturally colored fiber and 3) pass your knowledge and the red bloodline along to the next generation of cashmere breeders.

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