In the Arbas region of 105° east longitude and 40° north latitude where the temperature fluctuation between day and night can reach 50 degrees in winter, there is an essential native goat breed, the purebred Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat, which features thin and soft hair, a pair of horns and pink ears. Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat looks small yet are the nobles of goats.
The famous Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat, as a rare breed living in the Ordos Plateau of Inner Mongolia, is concentrated in Otog Banner, Otog Front Banner and Hanggin Banner in the western part of the Plateau. Sumu, Arbas, Otog Banner is the primary production area of Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat for its favorable natural environment, with Arbas Mountain in the west, vast natural pasture in the center and desert steppe in the south. The semi-arid steppe climate provides excellent conditions for animal husbandry.
Due to its location in the desert steppe, the area is dry and windy with little rainfall and much sand. The temperature difference between day and night is extremely high, and the annual average temperature is 6.4 °C. In the long, cold and dry winter, the lowest temperature reaches -30°C to -40°C late at night, while in the short, hot and arid summer, the highest temperature is 36.4°C and the lowest -32°C, with annual precipitation between 200mm to 400mm. The adorable, lovely and lively Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat grows in such extremely harsh conditions, thus can produce rare and quality cashmere.
Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat’s two coats are pure white. The top layer or outer coat is bright and coarse guard hair to protect the undercoat that is softer and finer down. The quality of the cashmere fleece is determined by three indicators: the diameter, length, and density of cashmere fibers. Due to its unique genes, Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat has a superiority that can never be duplicated. Its secondary hair follicle is smaller than those of other goats, and its cashmere has an average diameter between 13μm to 15 μm. It can even produce cashmere with a perfect diameter of 14.5μm, with a pure cashmere content of over 55%, which is unique worldwide. The preciousness of cashmere results from the small amount of production of each goat. Therefore, Inner Mongolian Arbas Baby Cashmere Goat was officially named by the People’s Government of Autonomous Region in 1988 and was listed on the National Register for the Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources as Class-1 protected breed by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2001.