I just love these boys. They came to our farm October 8, 2017 as wethered kids. They are still wonderful companions. Because Spot had a few dark grey spots, he got the name “Spot” and because Knothead didn’t have any spots, he was originally named “Not.” However, he later earned the name Knothead because of his head-butting, alpha male, goofy and fun behaviors.
Last year I combed them out a little late and lost some of the most wonderful Cashmere wool. I sent it off to the mill: The Fleece Factory of the Rockies in La Salle, CO https://www.thefleecefactoryoftherockies.com and had it turned into lace-weight yarn. I got back four and a half skeins that were 200 yards each. I had forgotten to weigh the raw wool before sending it off, and I still need to weigh each skein, as I would like to know how many ounces of Cashmere roughly = a 200 yard skein of lace-weight yarn. Lessons learned! 🙂 Keeping in mind that raw wool weighs quite a bit more than the finished yarn as it contains guard hairs and a little sand and such. I skirt my wool fairly well to remove as much VM (vegetable matter – old hay and such) as I can.
This year I believe that I have gotten more than I got last year. Though I have no real number to compare it to. I will be sending off a sample to Yocom-McColl a wool testing laboratory http://www.ymccoll.com/ to have them measure the mean diameter of the wool (micron count) and the crimp. This helps to explain the fineness of the wool and the value of the yarn. For more information re: the Cashmere Goat, please check out the Cashmere Goat Association @ https://cashmeregoatassociation.org/post.php?pid=3
Rockin' K Fiber Farm 