Angora Goat

Angora goat

Angora goat

(credit: Grant Heilman Photography, Inc.)

Breed of domestic goat that originated in ancient times in the district of Angora in Asia Minor. Its silky coat yields commercial mohair. Angora goats are generally smaller than other domestic goats and sheep and have long, drooping ears. Both sexes are horned. The Western mohair industry developed after the animal was established in South Africa in the mid-19th century. Importation to the U.S. followed shortly, and breeding there has centred in the Southwest. The coat, with its strong elastic fibres, differs from wool primarily in its smoothness and lustre.

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Angora Goat 

an ancient woolly breed of goat. Based on some facts, the Angora goat is believed to have originated in the earliest states of southern Mesopotamia. In the Middle Ages, Angora goats appeared in Turkey, and their breeding became centered in the province of Angora (Ankara), from which the breed derives its name. They have been raised in the USA, Africa, and Australia since the 19th century. Efforts to breed Angora goats in Western Europe met with little success because of the animals’ poor acclimatization.

The liveweight of the bucks ranges from 50 to 55 kg and of the does from 32 to 36 kg. The wool is homogeneous, semifine, white, and has a high luster. Its thickness is of the 44th-46th quality, and it is at least 25 cm long. The buck yields a wool clip of 5 to 7 kg and the doe 2.2 to 4 kg. The yield of pure wool is 65–75 percent. Angora wool is used to produce high-quality drapery fabrics, plush, carpets, and various knitted items, and the skins are used for furs. The hide is light and not very sturdy. The breed is used to improve coarse-haired goats, and crossbreeding produces a homogeneous semifine wool. In the USSR, Angora hybrids are raised in the Transcaucasus and Middle Asia and partly in Kazakhstan and the steppe regions of the Northern Caucasus. The Angora goat has been used to develop the Soviet woolly goat.

G. G. ZELENSKII