MOONTA Angora goat stud Lynndon Grove sends its top quality mohair overseas, attracted by the better returns on offer.
Stud principals Don and Lynne Carter run about 100 breeding does and 200 kids on their 12-hectare property, and are one of a few remaining studs in SA.
Since 2012, they have been sending their mohair clip overseas to Italian yarn company Safil, with a group of 28 Australian growers.
“They do the spinning of the yarn and it then goes to Japan to be made into woven cloth, which is then sent on to clothing houses,” Mrs Carter said.
“Initially the sample that went overseas was for women's apparel.”
Safil produces materials for use in clothing, knitting yarns, and other home fabrics such as curtains, velvets and coverings.
But being involved with the company means there is a long process of becoming a quality assured product – workability traits that Lynndon Grove has worked hard to achieve.
Those workability traits come straight from the animal, according to Mrs Carter, who says they have to focus on the entire animal’s fleece prior to shearing.
“It has got to have that super lustre and no kemp fibres around the ears, as it's going through a machine that does 200 kilometres a second, and it must not break,” she said.
Shearing occurs every six months.
Mrs Carter said they were aiming to breed a goat with less face cover so they didn’t need to trim in between shearing.
The average micron for the flock is 27.8M, and the average fleece weight for a kid is 1.2kg, 2.8kg to 3kg for a young goat, while an adult doe produces about 6-7kg per year.
“If they’re not looked after, you don’t get the fleece weights,” she said.
“With the better quality mohair, we’re getting a lot more because it has those workability traits that manufacturers can use.”
Two years ago the average fleece price was about $19.96 a kilogram, but has since come down. On November 25 prices hit $14.22/kg, while in June it was $16.75/kg.
Mrs Carter sells her goats nationally to Qld, NSW and Vic. She is also in partnership with fellow Angora producer Andrew Gossip, Amarula, using his South African genetics to breed bucks.
“I look for body size, conformation, fibre type for age, masculinity, and a good bodyweight on a buck,” she said.
The bucks are put in with does in February to March, with kidding in August.
The kidding rate was about 150 per cent, and animals graze during the winter months, but get hay every day.
Mrs Carter said caring accordingly for the goats, like any animal, gave her the best results.
