The goat should be shorn before he commences to shed, as the mohair
loses its weight and luster after the shedding process begins. There are
a few goats, which, under certain kinds of food and climatic conditions,
will not shed their fleeces, but most goats will shed, and even goats
which have carried their fleeces over a year in one section, may shed if
they are moved a few miles and the food is changed. A class of
non-shedders would be very valuable, but so far a distinctive class of
non-shedders, under any and all conditions, and which transmit this
peculiarity, has not been identified. The Angora goat will usually
commence to shed early in the spring, or as soon as a few warm bright
days come.
In some sections of the country it is thought advisable to shear twice a
year. Many points in favor of this method are advocated. It is claimed
that the price realized for the two medium length, or short stapled
fleeces, together with the increased number of pounds shorn in the two
clippings a year, pays much better than the one long staple fleece which
can be shorn from the same animal for a year's growth. There are many
reasons both for and against shearing twice a year. The mills prefer
long mohair, or at least fiber more than six inches in length (combing
length). They pay the best price for this class of mohair, and it must
be left to the individual to decide whether it pays him best to shear
once or twice a year. At present possibly one-third of the Angoras in
the United States are shorn twice a year, and the remaining two-thirds
only once. In Asia Minor one finds the goat shearer using a pair of long
bladed scissors to cut the mohair. The goats are shorn in the spring,
and only once during the year. The animal's feet are tied, and then by
using both hands, one at either end of the scissors, the goat is shorn.
Recently some Englishman has introduced an ordinary spring sheep shear,
but most of the natives prefer the scissors.
To-day one finds the hand shearer and the machine shearer at work in
America. The hand shearer should use a pair of short bladed (about five
inch blade) sheep shears. This is to prevent the point of the shear from
cutting mohair, which is not intended to be clipped with that
particular stroke of the shear. If, for instance, the shearer is
clipping the mohair along the sides of the animal, and the point of the
shear cuts some of the mohair at least three inches out from the body,
this stubble is shorn again (double cut) when the shearer gets to this
place, and this three-inch mohair is too short to be of much value. It
will be combed out at the mill as noil. An expert shearer can clip about
the same number of range goats that he can range sheep--from ninety to
one hundred and twenty a day.
The machine shear is rapidly taking the place of the hand shear. It
clips the mohair close to the skin and almost does away with double
cutting. It requires less skill to shear with a machine shear, and it
does the work more uniformly. There is also less danger of cutting the
animal. The machines do the work very rapidly.
After the goat is shorn the fleece should be collected and rolled into a
bundle, "bump," and placed in a sack or bale. It should not be tied, as
the mill men object to the particles of string which remain in the
mohair and disfigure the manufactured product. Any colored fleeces,
discolored mohair, or mohair containing objectionable features, such as
burrs, straw, etc., can be placed in separate parcels. The kid mohair
can be kept by itself, and the wether and doe mohair can be separately
packed. The long mohair should be kept separate from short stuff. Thus
one grades the mohair to some extent on the farm, and he has a better
idea of what the clip should bring.
If the mohair is to be shipped a long distance, it will pay to bale the
fleeces, as compact bales occupy much less space than sacks. The freight
rates are usually less upon baled mohair than they are upon the sacked
material. The cost of baling the mohair is a little less than the cost
of sacking.
[Illustration]