Calling all Goat Keepers: Please send short articles &/or photos for the CCPA news page of Goat Keeper magazine. Topics for next issue could be about combing cashmere, testing fleece, feeders that work, or anything else that interests you about your goats. Email to Chris  at silverca@ns.sympatico.ca  

Draft Breed Standard

Canadian Cashmere Goat

Breed Definition

A Cashmere Goat is a full bodied goat that produces an under down fibre which, on the third fleece, is over 1 ½ inches long,  measures 19 or less microns in diameter, and is crimpy. 

Note:  This is a sample definition only to initiate discussion – refer to explanation

of Breed Definition vs Breed Standards. .

Breed Standards

EXPLANATION OF BREED STANDARDS

 The breed standard for the Cashmere goat is a guide for breeders to use to breed for an improved Cashmere goat, with increased economic value to commercial fibre and meat producers.   When evaluating Cashmere goats, production traits in this animal should always be emphasized over uniformity of appearance and aesthetic traits.

 GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS

 The Cashmere goat is a hardy dual purpose meat and fibre goat which produces a high quantity and quality of cashmere fibre on a medium to large frame.  Does should be well built, but more refined than the bucks.  Does are capable of conceiving, carrying, giving birth to and rearing multiple offspring with minimal intervention.  Bucks should be stockier, obviously masculine, rugged animals capable of aggressive foraging with the ability to achieve and maintain good body size and weight with minimal or no supplementary input.  They should exhibit a good libido and be able to successfully cover a large group of females.  Young are able to achieve substantial weight gains when run under as natural a condition as possible with no or minimal supplementary feeding. 

 PART A.           BODY AND CONFORMATION

 Head:

 Ideal:

·        A refined head, well balanced, and in good proportion to the body.

·        Neither overly convex nor concave nose. 

·        A strong jaw with permanent teeth fitting correctly as to allow for natural foraging

·        Well formed mouth with tight lips

·        Horns are considered a natural part of the breed. Dehorning is NOT permitted.

·        Horns are positioned well apart at base, strong and solid and reasonably symmetrical.

·         Horns should curve back gently with an outward sweep so as to be wider at the tip than at the base.   As such the horn shape can be of variable “style” as long as they fit the guidelines above.

·        Mature males display a distinctive shallow spiral in horn conformation.

·        Ears are well balanced and proportioned to the body

Faults:

·        Too narrow or small a head as to be disproportionate to the body

·        Excessively dished or roman nosed

·        Parrot mouth or undershot jaw as to impede natural foraging

·        Loosely fitted lips as to impede natural foraging

·        Polled animals.

·        Feminine bucks or extremely masculine does

Neck and Forequarter:

Ideal:

·        Medium in length, well proportioned to body size, full and well muscled

·        Chest broad with a deep brisket, strong but in proportion to the body size

·        Shoulders should show good angulation so as to allow fluid, effortless movement.  The withers should be broad and rounded indicating width throughout the body.  ^{See Assessment Guidelines (AG)  #1}

Faults:

·        Neck too long, too thin or Bull neck

·        Loose shoulder or elbows

·        Incorrect shoulder angulation as to impede smooth fluid motion and proper gait

·        Sharp or pointed withers indicating a lack of width throughout the body

Body/Barrel/Back:

Ideal:

·        Long broad and deep

·        Ribs well sprung with good length

·        Good girth as appropriate for the gender

·        Loins long and well muscled

·        A broad strong back with a level top line^{.  See AG #2}

Faults:

·        Concave or roach back, slab-sided, cylindrical or pinched behind the shoulder

·        Excessively short back

Hind quarters:

Ideal:

·        Broad well muscled rump, slightly sloped from the hip bone to the pin bone. ^{See AG #3} 

·        Thighs well fleshed to the hock

·        Tail should be straight at the dock and able to move freely

·        Hocks well angulated. 

Faults:

·        Narrow hips

·        Too steep or short a rump. 

·        Poor muscling over rump and thighs

·        Poor thigh development

Legs & Feet:

Ideal:

·        Legs should be of medium length and in proportion to the depth of the body

·        Legs should be strong, parallel and straight, widely set and set slightly back to support a large frame. An imaginary line drawn from the point of the wither straight to the ground should meet the leg at the elbow and follow this line straight to the ground, with the pastern being the only point of deviation on this path.

·        Upper leg should be long and in proportion to the cannon bone and well muscled

·        Legs should have strong pastern and hocks

·        Hooves should be strong and well formed with a pronounced interdigital divide

·        Any condition of the hoof which affects the animals ability to move freely should be penalized

Faults:

·        Forelegs turning in or out

·        Cow hocks or sickle hocks

·        Poor angulation. ^{See AG #4}

·        Exceptionally thin legs so as to be out of proportion with the bulk of the body

·        Dropped pasterns

·        Any abnormality of the hoof

Gait:

• Balance coupled with correct structure produces an effortless gait.  This can be thought of as the appearance of "moving on wheels." The topline appears to stand still with no movement either up and down or side to side when the animal is in motion.

Size: 

Ideal:

·        Medium to large, heavy goat with maximum meat production

·        A desirable relationship between length of leg and depth of body should be achieved so that the animals chest/body is roughly half it height with the forechest reaching the elbow of the foreleg.

·        Bucks are distinctively larger than females and each sex displays the characteristics of its gender. Does should be well built, but somewhat more refined than the bucks.  Bucks should be stockier and masculine. 

Faults:

·        Insufficient size

·        Excessive leg length in an adult goat, excepting kids will naturally be longer in the leg

·        Masculine females, feminine males

Reproductive Organs:

Ideal:

Does:

·        Well formed, udder firmly attached with good production capacity

·        2 well placed, functional teats with adequate orifices, sized to be easily nursed by a newborn kid.   Non functional, supernumerary teats are allowable providing they are significantly smaller than, and well separated from the functional teat so as not to interfere with nursing. 

·        Well formed genetalia so as not to interfere with natural breeding or kidding

Bucks:

·        Well formed genetalia so as not to interfere with natural breeding or urinating

·        2 reasonably large, evenly sized, well formed testicles in one scrotum. 

·        A scrotum with no larger than a 5 cm split is permissible. 

·        The scrotum must be reasonably large at 2 years

Faults:

Does:

·        Pendulous or split udder

·        Fishtail teats, split teats, cluster teats, oversized bulbous teats, and  double teats where       both teats are similar in size

·        Poor udder attachment or poor production capacity

      Bucks:

·        Small, uneven or poorly formed testicles

·        Undescended, or single testes

·        Scrotum with more than 5 cm split

·        Small scrotal sack

·        More than one teat per side

Either sex:

·        Hermaphrodism

PART B            FIBRE

Skin and coat: 

Ideal:

·        Smooth supple skin which is neither too smooth nor too loose

·        Some dewlap may be evident in mature males and should not be penalized

·        The coat may vary according to climate with a marked variation between summer and winter coats

·        Wattles are permissible and should not be penalized

Guard Hair

            Ideal:

·        Guard hair can be short or long, should be coarse and well differentiated in diameter from the cashmere down.  Otherwise, no judgment is made on the guard hair.

·        The main colour for commercial use is white, but any colour is equally permissible and desirable.  Contrasting colours on legs, feet, faces, and bellies is permissible.  

·        Pinto type markings where two colours of cashmere is produced on the body is permissible but not preferred.

Faults:

·        Fine guard hair that is not well differentiated in diameter from the cashmere down.  ^{See AG #5}

·        Intermediate fibres which are coarser than the cashmere, but finer than the guard hair. ^{See AG #6}

Cashmere (Down)

Ideal:

·        The goats should show good coverage of cashmere fibre over the combable/shearable parts of the goat:  side, back, neck, chest, and rump.

·        The amount of cashmere the goats should yield as an adult is 100 gm (3.5 oz) as a minimum.  

·        The cashmere should be as fine as possible, and must be 19 microns or less in diameter. ^{See AG #7}

·        Cashmere fibre must be a minimum of 1 ½  inches in length pulled straight when measuring.

·        Cashmere fibre should  be non-medullated, low in luster and have good crimp or “style”. ^{See AG #8}

·        The cashmere should be consistent in style and fineness throughout the fleece. ^{See AG #9}

·        There should be good differentiation between the guard hair and the cashmere, with no intermediate fibres.

·         

Faults:  

·        Down  that is over 19 microns in diameter

·        Down that is under 1 ½ inches in length.

·        Down fibre that has no crimp and is shiny or lustrous in appearance (cashgora) ^{See AG #10}

·        Down fibre that is coarser than the cashmere on the goat, but finer than the guard hair (Intermediate fibre)

ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

PART A.           BODY AND CONFORMATION

1.  Neck & Forequarters

Angulation can be determined by drawing an imaginary line from the point of the wither, forward to the point of the shoulder at the chest and then back to the elbow.  The angle produced at the intersection at the shoulder should ideally equal roughly 90 degrees.

2.  Body, Barrel, Back

A normal back is broad and strong with a slight curvature to carry weight and have some spring action.  The top line should appear straight between the shoulder and the rise of the rump. 

One should note that kids will continue to grow until 2 years of age and their top lines may frequently out of line due to the natural tendency for the back end to grow faster than the front end.

3.  Hind Quarters

The rump should be viewed as 2 steps.  The first a slight rise from the spin indicating the musculature overlying the bone structure.  The second step represents the croup and is seen as a slight drop to the tail.  3 step rumps, up, across and then dropping so as to create the appearance of a shelf, should be avoided.

4.  Legs and Feet

In a properly angulated hock, if an imaginary line were drawn from the point of the rump straight down, it should meet and follow the back line of the hock to the ground.  A hock that is not straight and in line with the rump is either over or under angulated and will be evidenced by a rough, or choppy gait.

The angle created when an imaginary line is drawn from the pelvis attachment on the spine through the pin bone intersected by an imaginary line drawn from the point of the hip up the femur should ideally be roughly 90 degrees.  A slight variation from 90 degrees either way is permissible as long at the angle on front and back are equal to each.  As such, fluid gait is maintained.

PART B            FIBRE

5.   Differentiation.  This is often seen on kid fleeces where they have very fine, long guard hair.  It may also be noted in older animals with very coarse cashmere.  It is often made evident by difficulty in combing out the cashmere.   These fleeces are difficult to dehair.

6.  Intermediate fibres are sometimes referred to as “cashgora”.  On visual evaluation these fibres will appear in the down.  They will be noticeably finer than the guard hair, but coarser than the down.  They will have very little or no crimp.    They may also appear on a histogram as separate peaks above the cashmere range, but below the guard hair.

7.  Diameter can be visually assessed by someone experienced in classing cashmere, however with less precision than by laboratory analysis.  Visually the cashmere may be classified as:

·        Fine fiber –up to 16.5 microns

·        Medium 16.5 – 18 microns

·        Coarse 18 –  19 microns

For more precise measurement of the fibre diameter a measurement of the Mean Fibre Diameter (MFD) or “Histogram” can be done by a qualified lab.

8.   Cashmere should show good style or lots of crimp along the length of the fibre.   In cashmere, the crimp should be 3 dimensional along the fibre.   Crimp can be evaluated visually by someone experienced in classing cashmere.  Generally, the crimpier the fibre, the better.  

Fibre that shows little or no crimp is also sometimes referred to as “cashgora” and is not acceptable as cashmere.  This fibre may be shiny or lustrous in appearance.   It may not necessarily be coarser than the rest of the down, so may not show up on a histogram measuring the MFD.

More recently there is interest in the cashmere industry of using a Mean Fibre Curvature measurement as an objective measurement of crimp or “style” in cashmere.  Some labs are capable of doing this test while measuring the MFD.  As a guideline, an MFC of 45 deg/mm or higher is considered acceptable crimp.  Less than 45 deg/mm is considered cashgora.   However producers must be aware of the limitations of this test in terms of standardization and instability of the measurement.  It cannot be treated with the same level of confidence as a Mean Fibre Diameter, and breeders should therefore be careful when using it in the implementation of their breeding plans.

9.  Consistency of the fibre can be assessed both visually and through interpretation of the MFD histogram.  Fibre can be classed on the animal and assessed for fineness, length, and crimp from multiple sites:  the shoulder, side, and rump.  The more consistent it is across the animal, the better.

Consistency in fineness will also be measurable from the histogram and expressed as the Standard Deviation (SD) and the Coefficient of Variation  (COV)

The Standard Deviation is the number of microns the fibres in the sample vary from the Mean.  This number should be less than 4 on kid fleeces, and less than 3.5 in adults.  The lower the number, the better.

The Coefficient of Variation (COV) is the variation expressed as a percentage.  This should be less than 30% in a kid fleece and less than 25% in adults.

10.   Cashgora is a term used to describe different types of fibres that originated from the crossing of Angora goats to Cashmere goats.  The term “cashgora” is used in different ways.  In some cases it is in reference to the “intermediate” fibres on a histogram…fibres somewhere between the down and the guard hair in diameter.  Shiny fibre with no crimp to it is also referred to as “cashgora”.