Cashmere goats and the possibilities of breeding them in Italy
The Cashmere Goat (or Hircus), famous for the precious fiber of the same name it produces, possesses many characteristics that adapt perfectly, for example, to the Aosta Valley territory, which is quite mountainous and has a high thermal excursion between the rigid minimum temperatures at night and the milder, sometimes hot, temperatures in the central hours of the day. We know that the goats living in their native land, the Indian province of Kashmir, produce a truly negligible quantity of precious wool, and such production would absolutely not be sufficient to satisfy global demand.
For this reason, Cashmere wool production is evaluated and then carried out in other areas of the world. Let's see how this is possible: Selected to live in the extreme environmental and climatic variability of mountain areas, this animal can be raised anywhere, particularly where, due to land degradation or lack of roads, the use of agricultural machinery or large investments in shelters or sophisticated equipment are not allowed.
Temperature variability stimulates the production of "duvet," which we already saw in the previous article, and which therefore enhances the quality of the "cashmere" wool produced. The Cashmere goat lives outdoors all year round, regardless of the season, and manages to live even in the poorest and most inaccessible areas, in semi-rocky environments and on marginal lands, feeding on weeds unusable by other animals, thus acting as a "natural herbicide," which is of fundamental importance in clearing undergrowth, almost unconsciously performing a land reclamation action in its habitat, and consequently also an effective action in fire prevention, with obvious benefits for the entire surrounding environment.
Precisely at the beginning of autumn, near Aosta, in Saint-Christophe, an informative meeting was held on "Spreading the practice of Cashmere Goat farming in Valle d'Aosta."
