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Fine fibre in Portugal is almost limited to wool and, for the moment, the country is still responsible
for a reasonable amount of production of fine wool.
There are no cashmere goats registered in Portugal, and so no cashmere fibre is available, as is
the case with Angora rabbits. Angora fibre used to be produced in Portugal, however due to
disease problems, the rabbits died and the production of this kind fibre disappeared in the sixties.
Currently, interest in farming Angora goats for mohair production is low. From the initial flocks set
up in the late eighties (500 animals), there are now only 250 animals. Due to the small amount of
fibre produced and to the rapid coarsening of the fibre with age, the national textile industries have
never shown interest in developing technology for processing this particular type of fibre. Because
of this, the producers need to send the small volumes of fibre produced to France or England for
processing.
We think that in order to improve mohair production the resolution of industrial processing must be
done at the production level in a modular way. It is also necessary that the official organisms have
objective guidelines. Even if it is considered as a exotic breed, there are enough information that
allows us to say that angora goats can be perfectly integrated in our traditional sheep management
systems, and with fewer management problems that some of our indigenous goat breeds.
We think that from the three types of fibre-producing animals referred to, angora goat production is
the best option in the short term, since it is the animal that is closest to our traditional system of
animal production.
The Portuguese Textile Industry, since a long time ago, prepared to process the only animal fibre
(wool) currently available in large quantities in the country. All the other speciality fibres are
imported for incorporation into garments.
Wool seems still to have a role in Portuguese Agriculture, mainly fine wool, which is predicted to be
in continuing and strong demand.
O desenvolvimento deste trabalho objectiva a identificação do potencial produtivo nacional para este tipo de fibras, designadas por FINAS, concorrencial em procura de outras fibras animais como a Mohair e a Caxemira.
