Cashmere Production and Harvesting
topic
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.
Role
Extremely low yield per animal (100-200g vs. 3-5 kg for sheep) combined with labor-intensive combing and dehairing drives cashmere's premium pricing, with quality determined by fineness (ultra-fine <15 μm, fine 15-16 μm, standard 16-19 μm) and dehairing efficiency affecting both softness and price.