Originating in the highlands of Central Asia, the Angora goat is one of the few domestic breeds raised solely for its fleece. Its presence is documented as early as the 4th century BC on tablets from Sumer, Mesopotamia. It owes its name to the region where its breeding developed from the 11th century onwards: Angora in Turkey, present-day Ankara. Its fleece was long reserved for elites (sultans, members of the court) and for priestly vestments. It was present in France, but rather sporadically, until the 1980s when a group of breeders formed to develop a French industry. They acquired their first herd across the Atlantic and organized themselves into a cooperative for processing mohair into yarn and ready-to-wear textiles: this was the creation of SICA Mohair.
Since then, breeders have worked together on genetic selection, breeding techniques adapted to this breed, sorting, and processing the mohair. This collective commitment has made French mohair a high-quality natural fiber.
The Angora goat is a fairly docile breed, somewhere between dairy goats and sheep in terms of behavior, diet, and lifestyle. Each year, it produces between 3 and 4 kilos of mohair. On our farm, it enjoys the pastures and undergrowth of our hillsides.
