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Stotts Ranch Premium Kid Mohair
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"Trying to help out the Industry" One of the in-crowd's
buzz words is "Stay Fine". However, James Stotts thinks you have to start out "Ultra Fine" in order to "Stay Fine". To better understand what he mean, lets compare some statistics. This is a United States Mohair Grade Chart.
Now compare the Stotts Ranch's recently deceased twin billies, whose bloodline continues today. Below is a table which represents a history of their shearings. They were not measured as kids (fall or spring), but starting at the 3rd shearing.
These two stud billies have been producing 18 and 19 micron fall kids. They will "Stay Fine" because they started out "Ultra Fine". For anyone who finds our claims hard to swallow, Heres the proof. What is the Angora goat's place on this earth? They are very capable fiber producers. They can maximize pastures too poor, rough, or brushy for cattle. They are foraging experts who cover miles each and every day. What are some of the qualities the Angora goat should possess? Thriftiness, vigor, and the ability to produce product with low overhead to the producer. One hundred years ago the purebreds purchased at the Fat Stock Shows did improve the crossbred and inferior goats and played a major role in the improvement of the United States herd. The last fifty years, the emphasis has been on increased wieghts of fleeces, which has always meant higher micron mohair. Many breeders accomplished a first clip kid with adult mohair at the base end of the hair. Plenty of years went by that grease was a major quality in the eyes of the judges. Take note that mohair buyers discounted that same fleece....for grease. Fat Stock Show goats are raised in a feed pen and the feed pen has no useable correlation for these range animals. Qualities such as mohair grown on the ears, mohair to the toes, no beard, mohair on the teats, plenty on the face, and extreme density are qualities that the proponents of registered Fat Stock Show goats look for and call them "quality indicators". We at the Stotts Ranch have found these same qualities to be inconsistent with the "quality indicators" of the successful range goat. Even one of the Fat Stock Show "quality indicators" tells us that goat needs to be raised near the feed store. The subject of kemp has had volumes contributed to it, and we must strive to keep it out of the breeding herd. The Stotts Ranch may have one of a kind problems, going where no man has went before on fine mohair, concerning our goats and kemp. Our males, as yearlings and older, get what looks like kemp on their backs in the hot months. We had it tested and it wasn't kemp. It must be hormone related because our females don't have it. Our nannies may show a little kemp raising a kid (we have not had it tested). We select nannies for mohair production based on the other clip while not raising a kid. Our pregnant and nursing nannies do shed some neck and belly hair, but we do not consider it a fault, but possibly a hormone change. In addition, it makes it possible for nannies to better raise a kid on the range.
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