Title:
Want Truly Homemade Sweaters? Try Raising Your Own
Goats
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
I'm Alex Villarreal with the VOA Special English
Agriculture Report.
Goats are valuable not just for their milk and meat.
Or for their ability to control weeds and help renew
grasslands. Or even for their ability to be gentle
around children. Goats can also be valuable for
their hair.Cashmere goats produce cashmere and
Angora goats produce -- Did you think we were going
to say angora? No, angora fiber comes from rabbits.
Angora goats produce mohair. Mohair is used in
sweaters, scarves, coats and other products,
including floor coverings and doll hair. The United
States is a leading producer of mohair, along with
South Africa and Turkey. America's top producing
state is Texas.An adult Angora goat can produce as
much as seven kilograms of hair each year. As the
goats grow older, however, their hair becomes
thicker and less valuable. Hair from white or
solid-colored goats is the most popular, but the
appeal of mixed-color mohair has grown.Angora goats
are also used as show animals. They require little
special care. The animals need milk from their
mothers for three or four months. They reach full
maturity when they are a little more than two years
old. But even then they are smaller than most sheep
and milk goats.Cashmere goats are usually larger
than Angoras. They can grow big enough to be kept
with sheep and cattle. The outer hair of the animal
is called guard hair. Behind it is the valuable
material on a cashmere goat. Cashmere is valued for
its softness and warmth without much weight. Some
farmers comb their cashmere goats to remove the
hair. But if the animals do get a haircut, it often
takes place at the time when they naturally lose
their winter coat -- between December and March.
Angora goats generally get their hair cut two times
a year, in the spring and fall. The job can be done
with simple cutting tools or by hiring a
professional shearer. Angoras may need special
protection from the cold for about a month after
shearing. The value of an animal's coat depends on
the age, size and condition. But whatever kind of
goat you choose to raise, be sure you have a good
fence. Goats love to explore.For VOA Special English
I'm Alex Villarreal. To learn more about
agriculture, go to voaspecialenglish.com for
transcripts and MP3s of all of our reports. We're
also on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at VOA
Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
