A dedicated band of Angora goat and Mohair breeders are lifting the profile of the breed and fibre through the involvement of the younger generation.
Judge of the Mohair fleece section of the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, Margaret Nicholls, Seaspray, said the Angora deserved it’s place – “it’s a fibre animal, and this is a fibre show”.
She said the breed was working to involve the younger generation and then to take that knowledge and interest back to their family farms.
The aim was to build number of Angoras and in turn increase the volume of Mohair produced and profile of the animal and fibre.
Already they have three schools involved – West Wyalong High School, West Wyalong, NSW, Elisabeth Murdoch College, Langwarrin, and Woodleigh School, Langwarrin South.
Mohair buyer, David Williams, Australasian Mohair Trading, who purchases around 50 per cent of the Australian production of Mohair, said prices for the fibre were increasing.
He said national production was down to around 30,000 kilograms.
He buys 11-13 tonnes of Mohair for mainly South African processors.
“They want the whole range – we have a price on everything, top to bottom,” he said.
He said drought in South Africa had led to reduced production there and increased demand from processors.
The Rand had also appreciated against the Australian dollar leading to a price rise of 5-30 percent.
Mr Williams said the local industry wanted to “start the rise” through involving young people (regeneration) and improving the standard of Mohair.
“We are trying to build that critical mass needed,” he said.
The 12 Mohair fleeces entered this year were all from West Wyalong High School.
Mrs Nicholls said that after 30 years involvement in all aspects of the Angora and Mohair industry, she knew what she liked with feel and touch of the fibre.
The champion fleece was from a two year old wether while the reserve was an 18 micron fleece “from a baby”.
“We need to get flock numbers up to commercial levels so that flocks of 200-300 young does can be bought by new farmers.”
An often overlooked benefit of Angoras, apart from the good fibre and meat prices was that Angoras could be run on “rough feed”.
