Cashmere Goat

A type of goat that produces cashmere wool, the goat's fine, soft, downy winter undercoat, in commercial quality and quantity; this undercoat grows as the days get shorter and is paired with a coarser outer guard-hair coat present year round. Most common goat breeds grow this same two-coated fleece, but cashmere breeds have been selected specifically for the quality and quantity of their undercoat, which is produced by secondary hair follicles while the guard hair comes from the primary follicles. China, the largest producer of cashmere down, had an estimated 123 million goats as of 1994, dominated by local breeds, though breeding programs have since been started to develop more productive lines. The cashmere goat is one of several fiber goats alongside the Pygora, Nigora and Angora goats, and takes its name from the Himalayan region of Kashmir, "cashmere" being an anglicization of that name.