If the goat carries the gene for down, it can, over time, be developed into saleable amounts. Select goats may have fiber as fine as 14 microns. The usual range is 16 to 19 microns. A yield of at least 30 percent down is desirable, but is not the average by any means. Buyers pay on the down weight or weight of dehaired fiber, not the weight of the entire fleece.
Prices vary over time.
Goats come in many colors and combinations of colors, but solid colored goats are much preferred. Cashmere down is either white, brown, or gray in solid colored goats. The less desirable down from mixed colored goats is classed either as white with color or mixed color. Some U.S. growers have imported goats from Australia or New Zealand as a herd of as breeding stock to improve selected native goats. This might produce greater return more quickly than would native stock alone.