The new technology for increase goat cashmere yields

Abstract

As of 2016, the number of livestock has reached 61.5 million heads exceeding the pasture carrying capacity by 156 percent and over 9-10 times in some aimags and soums, which negatively affects the future sustainable growth and development of the livestock sector. One of the ways to reduce the pasture stocking rate and increase the income of herders is to increase the output per animal. A recent experiment in Mongolia demonstrates that herding Mongolian goats in specially designed dark shelter (darkness of the shelter is 0.1-0.5 lux) from 5 pm to 9 am in summer from May 15th to September 15th led to 50% reduction in grazing pressure and increase in cashmere yield and average cashmere length by 52% and 50-53% respectively, with cashmere diameter narrowed by 1.6%.