We raise our own Angora Goats here on Slateford Farm. From feeding, to animal husbandry, from vet bills to picking burdocks off a kid, we do it here. We've worked hard to breed color back into our herd.
Commercial breeding does the opposite, to produce fleece easier to dye.
We shear the goats to harvest the fleece. This process is beneficial to the goats, and doesn't hurt them a bit, though they argue about it some. Mostly they just hate to stand still. Shearing is done in the fall, allowing the animals to grow in a luxurious winter fleece without the painful matting that would result if they weren't sheared occasionally. Next the fleece is cleaned, processed and spun into yarn.