Mohair price flair

A popular move towards establishing tourist game-hunting parks in Texas and South Africa has muscled-in on prime Angora production land and has led to a drop in global mohair supply.

This shortage has resulted in consecutive record breaking prices on the international market and Mr Gossip believes the good times are set to continue.

"Mohair prices this season have gone through the roof where we have seen a 30 per cent rise on last year's prices," he said.

"All the world records in all three grades have been broken as the production is crashing due to the reduced number of farms and a production shortfall that has been driven by land use issues, poor seasons and a move to game farming."

New record prices fetched R870 (South African Rand) per kilogram, equivalent to AUD$90, for bales of 24-micron fleece at mohair sales in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in May.

South Africa accounts for 60pc of world's mohair clip, producing from three to four million kilograms while Australia produces just 120,000kg each year.

"I've never seen mohair prices that high and I never forecast a price spike like that coming," Mr Gossip said.

"The good thing for the mohair industry now is that prices are more consistent after the damaging fluctuations in the 1980s that drove a lot of people out.

"South Africa has put a floor-price in the market so what that did was stabilise the world market for the past 15 years."

Cedar Grange Angoras run 1200 Angora goats including 500 breeding doe, 350 kids, 50 bucks and 300 maidens.

The herd produces over 7000kg of mohair annually.

Shearing takes place in February and September with an average of 3kg/head/cut.

The fleece is shipped to South Africa and sold in the Port Elizabeth auction.

While the business was established when Mr Gossip was given an Angora goat for his seventh birthday, it was not until the turn of the millennium he decided to ramp up production and entered into a fast-paced expansion that, at its peak, shore over 2000-head biannually.

"People were getting out and I was getting big," he said.

"It was the tail-end of the boom when the mohair market hadn't begun to revive so I was able to buy goats off people, in full fleece, for $20.

"That was when the industry was changing and the fibre was making the money but the meat wasn't."

During the expansion, he has focused on sourcing leading South African Angora goat genetics and underwent a 10 year elite Martysford and Careysbrook bloodline embryo transfer program to expand breeding numbers.

Over the past six years, Mr Gossip has established an international network between a Texan mohair producer who sourced genetics from South Africa and underwent the embryo transfers and kidding in Australia. The progeny was then shipped to the United States because of quarantine restrictions of shipping live Angoras.

During this process Cedar Grange's herd has benefited with the excess numbers of offspring and embryos being used in their Australian breeding program.

"The use of the South African genetics had addressed issues with kemp and modulation in the fibre, which refers to the hollowing of the hairs," Mr Gossip said.

"Our goats have improved out of sight because we have focused on using the best genetics in the world."

He forecasts a growing industry challenge with the supply shortage leading to a genetics crisis.

"Securing good quality Angora bloodlines will be difficult soon because of the reduction of supply in Texas and the political unrest in South Africa that has pushed processors to look elsewhere for supply," he said.

"If any other country can fill the void they will take our percentage of the market."

Australia had an opportunity to be a major player on the global market because of the diverse land, but needed to increase their product marketing targeting boutique markets rather than a commodity focus, he said.