Sealake Farm is on the edge of a freshwater Mere in Yorkshire England, a couple of miles from the North Sea Coast. We keep mainly Angora goats, some Pygoras and have a sheep who thinks she's a goat (we also have a Duck who thinks she's a Chicken, but that's another story).
All our goats live out their natural lives here on the farm. The oldest is 18 years and the youngest about 5 months. We know each one by name as they have very individual personalities. We sell their hair as locks and curls and also spin their hair into hand knitting yarns which we sell and use some to make socks, gloves, scarves and throws.
We sell our Goat hair on Etsy, I describe as Curls, any hair that is either below 6 inches long or doesn't appear in individual single locks. Curls are washed and dyed in small batches. We usually use these for yarn, but sometimes offer some for spinning or felting.
Our Mohair Locks are 6 inches or longer. Sometimes we deliberately let them grow. Other times, like this year, it was unseasonably cold in the north of the UK and we left them with coats on for a while. We have plenty of long locks right now. Locks are carefully washed individually or by the handful, to keep the integrity of the hair, its wavy character as far as possible.
We shear our own goats very gently, and serve them generous amounts of tasty mint treats while they are having their hair cut. This makes sure they co-operate and don't wriggle too much. If the weather is cold they get to wear sweaters or large dog coats until they have grown a bit of new hair.