Cashmere Production and Harvesting

Cashmere harvesting: spring collection (April-June) during natural molting when undercoat sheds, methods include combing (hand-combing undercoat, labor-intensive, higher quality, 70-150g per goat, preferred) or shearing (machine shearing, faster, lower quality due to guard hair contamination requiring dehairing). Yield: 100-200g raw cashmere per goat annually (vs. 2-6 kg wool per sheep). Processing: sorting by color (white, brown, gray—white commands premium), dehairing (removing coarse guard hairs 30-90 μm via mechanical combing achieving 10-30% coarse hair residual), washing/scouring (similar to wool), achieving 50-60% final yield clean dehaired cashmere.