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Goat Knoll - Cashmere goats and cashmere fiber from an Oregon farm

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Farm Products

Goat Knoll is a 50 acre farm owned by Linda Fox. We raise cashmere goats and Shetland sheep. The farm is located just south of the small town of Dallas (not The Dalles!) Oregon. Dallas is 20 miles west of Salem, Oregon's capitol city. The farm is partially forested and has unimproved pastures. Most of it was covered with woody brush including poison oak, scotch broom, scrub oak and blackberry vines. Now, thanks to the goats, most of the brush is under control. We've owned the land since 1978, but moved back here to stay in 1995. When we moved here we brought along 3 cashmere goats, 3 sheep and a pampered, brainless house cat (Mickey). Our herd has grown since then. It varies from 30 - 50 goats and 20 - 30 sheep. Mickey has gone virtual.

 

Goat Knoll from the air above

Cashmere Goats. The farm produces a nice crop of kid goats each spring (from 15 to 30), some of which are available for sale in late spring, early summer. We usually have adult bucks and does for sale, but don't right now. During October - December, we might have bred does for sale. Cashmere goats come in all colors and we used to keep a variety of colors in our herd, but in the last fifteen years, we have chosen to focus on silver-colored goats. We breed for a fine, stylish cashmere with enough length to enable easy spinning and to produce a strong yarn. One of our goals is to produce goats with cashmere attributes which hold throughout their lifetime. The goats are extremely healthy, grazing most of the year on natural food. In the winter we feed a good quality local hay. The goats are free of disease (CL, CAE, soremouth, Johnes) and require minimal care from their human beings.
weaned cashmere kids
Cashmere Products. Starting in January each year, we harvest the cashmere from our goats and have the raw cashmere fleece processed by fiber mills that separate the valuable cashmere from the coarse goat guard hair. It is washed and processed into rovings (for spinning) and yarn according to our specifications. We generally have available cashmere rovings and 100% cashmere lace-weight and fingering-weight yarn. Sometimes we have cashmere blend yarn available. We dye the yarn ourselves. We also sell cashmere knitting kits (scarves, gloves, hats) lace scarf and glove kits which include cashmere yarn and suitable pattern designed by Linda. These products are for sale at the farm, at various shows we attend and by mail. Check out our Farm Store for details on products available now. At right is a selection of some of our current 3-ply fingering-weight yarn.
cashmere fingering weight yarn
The Sheep. We keep a small flock of registered Shetland sheep. We shear them each spring. We process some of the wool ourselves, washing it, carding it and hand spinning some of it into yarn of various weights. Some of the wool is processed by local mills into rovings for spinning and sometimes yarn. We dye the yarn and create a few knitting kits using the wool. We currently have a hat and two sock knitting kits available in our online Farm Store. Our flocks' wool makes an interesting and lively yarn. We normally have a stash of handspun available for sale in a variety of weights. The yarn knits up beautifully allowing you to make a project for a very personal gift or to keep your own body parts toasty and bright. The yarn also works wonderfully for weaving. A more recent addition is fleece from individual sheep, washed and carded into batt ready to spin.
handspun shetland wool yarn

Handmade cashmere garments. We sometimes have a few handmade cashmere items for sale. These may include cashmere scarves, wool and cashmere socks, caps, woven wool blankets and even a shawl from time to time. Items available are normally one of a kind and we have them for sale when time and the creative whims of the knitter/weaver allow. Check out the Farm Store for the handmade products currently available.

cashmere shawlette

 

Knit Kits. We have put together a few kits for you to create your own nifty handmade stuff. There is a Shetland wool beaded cap to knit, two Shetland wool sock knitting kits, several cashmere scarf kits and a kit for cashmere blend fingerless gloves. The yarn in the kits is primarily from our sheep and goats. Each kit includes enough wool or cashmere yarn to complete the kit, an attractive photograph of the finished product and detailed instructions. Kits are available from our Farm Store.

 

 

 

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