Goats are weird. If you’ve ever spent five minutes in a pen with a curious Boer or a flighty Alpine, you know they have personality coming out of their ears. But there is a specific subset of the caprine world that stops people in their tracks at county fairs and on homesteading Instagram feeds: the long haired goat breeds. They look like walking rugs or mythical creatures from a high-fantasy novel.
It’s easy to fall in love with the aesthetic. Who wouldn't want a backyard full of flowing, silky locks?
Honestly, though, most people have no idea what they’re getting into. Owning a long-haired goat isn't just about the "vibe." It is a massive commitment to fiber management, skin health, and predator protection. If you neglect that coat for even a month, you aren't just looking at a messy animal; you’re looking at a welfare nightmare involving painful mats, hidden parasites, and overheating.
Let's get into the reality of these shaggy beasts.
The Angora: The High-Maintenance King of Fiber
When people talk about long haired goat breeds, the Angora is usually the first one that comes to mind. They are the source of mohair. Don’t confuse them with Angora rabbits; these are sturdy, though somewhat delicate, ruminants.
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Their hair is incredible. It grows at a staggering rate—sometimes an inch a month. Because of this, you can’t just "let it grow." You have to shear them twice a year. If you don't, the weight of the fleece becomes a literal burden. I’ve seen neglected Angoras so matted they could barely walk because the fiber had felted between their legs.
Angoras are also surprisingly fragile compared to your average brush goat. Because they put so much nutritional energy into growing that mohair, they don’t have much body fat. If they get wet in a cold snap right after shearing, they can go into hypothermic shock faster than you’d believe. You need a barn. A dry one. No exceptions.
Cashmere Is Not a Breed (Mostly)
This is the part that trips everyone up. There isn't technically a single "Cashmere breed" in the way there is a "Beagle breed." Instead, cashmere is a type of undercoat produced by many different long haired goat breeds.
Basically, cashmere is the soft, downy fluff that grows under the coarse outer "guard hairs." To get the fiber, you don't usually shear the goat like a sheep; you comb it out during the spring molting season. It’s a tedious, back-breaking process.
- Australian Cashmere Goats: These were developed specifically to standardize the fiber.
- Spanish Goats: Often have significant cashmere potential.
- Pygora Goats: A cross between a Pygmy and an Angora, giving you a smaller animal with incredibly soft, manageable fiber.
If you’re looking for a pet that doubles as a fiber producer, the Pygora is probably the sweet spot. They’re small. They’re friendly. They don't require the industrial-scale shearing setup that a full-sized Angora demands. Plus, they come in a dozen different colors, which makes your pasture look like a box of crayons.
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The Tibetan Plateau and the Pashmina Myth
We have to talk about the goats of the Himalayas. The Changthangi or Pashmina goat lives at altitudes where the air is thin and the mercury stays well below freezing. These are the ultimate long haired goat breeds for extreme survival.
The fiber they produce is so fine it’s measured in microns—usually under 15 microns. For context, a human hair is about 70 microns. This is the stuff of $1,000 scarves. But here’s the catch: you cannot recreate this fiber in a backyard in Tennessee or Devon. The goats only produce that specific, ultra-fine undercoat in response to the brutal cold of the high altitudes. If you move a Pashmina goat to a temperate climate, the coat changes. Biology is funny like that.
Why the Myotonic (Fainting) Goat Sometimes Fits the Bill
Wait, aren't fainting goats short-haired? Usually, yes.
However, there is a strain of the Tennessee Fainting Goat that carries a long-hair gene. They look like mini woolly mammoths. They aren't "fiber goats" in the commercial sense—you aren't going to sell their hair to a textile mill—but they are undeniably shaggy.
The benefit here is hardiness. Because they aren't bred for specialized industrial fiber production, they tend to be "thriftier." They survive on poorer pasture. They have better parasite resistance. If you just want the long-haired look without the physiological fragility of an Angora, a long-haired Myotonic is a solid "cheating" way to get the aesthetic.
Dealing With the "Sticky" Problem
Let’s get real about the mess. If you have long haired goat breeds, your life will revolve around burrs.
Cockleburs, hitchhikers, beggar's lice—whatever you call them in your neck of the woods, they love goat hair. A long-haired goat walking through a briar patch is essentially a giant piece of Velcro. Within ten minutes, that pristine white coat will be a tangled mess of organic debris.
You have two choices:
- Strict Pasture Management: You must clear every single thorny weed from your acreage.
- Coatings: Many fiber enthusiasts put "coats" or "spandex suits" on their goats to keep the fleece clean. It looks ridiculous. Your neighbors will laugh. But it saves you six hours of picking seeds out of mohair later.
Health Issues Nobody Mentions in the Brochure
Lice.
It’s the secret shame of the goat world, but it’s ubiquitous. Long hair provides the perfect, humid, protected skyscraper for biting and sucking lice. Because the hair is so thick, you often won’t see the skin irritation until the goat has already rubbed a giant bald patch into its side.
You have to be proactive. This means regular "hands-on" inspections. You need to get your fingers down past the fluff to the actual skin. Is it flaky? Are there tiny red moving specks? If you aren't willing to do a "deep tissue" check on your goats once a week, don't get a long-haired breed.
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Then there's the "poop factor." Long hair around the tail (the britch) is a magnet for manure, especially if the goat gets a touch of diarrhea from a lush spring pasture. This leads to "fly strike," where flies lay eggs in the soiled hair. It’s as gross as it sounds and can be fatal. Keeping the "back porch" trimmed short—a practice called crutching—is mandatory.
The Icelandic Goat: The Rare Survivor
If you want something truly unique, look at the Icelandic goat. There were only a few hundred of these left a couple of decades ago. They were famously featured in Game of Thrones (they played the "dragons" in some of the early CGI-tracking scenes, believe it or not).
Icelandics have a double coat: a long, coarse outer coat called tog and a fine, soft undercoat called thel. They are incredibly cold-hardy. Unlike Angoras, they can handle a bit of rain without falling over and dying. They are the "all-terrain" version of long haired goat breeds.
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring Owner
If you’re still convinced you want a shaggy goat, don't just go to Craigslist and buy the first "cute" one you see.
- Buy a High-Quality Shearing Kit: Don't use kitchen scissors. You’ll nick the skin, and goats bleed surprisingly easily. Invest in professional-grade clippers like Heiniger or Lister.
- Build a Shearing Stand: You cannot groom these animals while they are running loose. You need a head-gate stand to keep them secure and elevated so you don't blow out your back.
- Check Your Fencing: Woven wire is better than electric for long-haired breeds. Sometimes, that thick wool acts as an insulator, and the goat won’t even feel the "pop" of an electric fence until they’ve already pushed through it.
- Source Your Hay Carefully: Avoid "seedy" hay. If the hay is full of seed heads, the goats will wear that hay for the rest of the season. Look for high-quality, second-cutting grass hay that is leafy rather than stalky.
Owning long haired goat breeds is a hobby that quickly turns into a part-time job. It’s rewarding, sure. There is nothing quite like the feeling of a freshly washed and brushed Pygora. But it's a commitment to the animal's comfort that goes far beyond just tossing some grain in a bucket and calling it a day.
Before you buy, find a local weaver or fiber guild. Ask them about the local market for mohair or cashmere. If you can turn that maintenance nightmare into a few bags of high-value fiber, the goats might just pay for their own specialized shampoo.