Angora goats have been selectively bred to produce pure white mohair for thousands of years. Goats born with color were considered "unpure" and were destroyed.

 

In recent years there has been a growing interest in producing colored Angora goats. The Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association (CAGBA) registry was started in the summer of 1999 to provide a foundation for a breed standard and tracking the lineage of the Colored Angora Goat.

Today the colored Angora goat is still a relatively rare breed as there are just over 4,500 Colored Angora goats in the registry. The Colored Angora registry book is still open. This permits Colored Angora goats to be accepted into the registry after meeting and passing published breed criteria as judged by three CABGA certified inspectors under a CAGBA sanctioned event. Offspring of Colored Angora Goats in the registry can be regisitered by birth based on the breeders assurance that the animal meets the breed requirements. CAGBA uses the same breed standard as the American Angora Goat Breeders Association (AAGBA) but without the limitations on "white". CAGBA also accepts an offspring into the registry if one or both parents of the kid are AAGBA registered.

Colored Angora goats come in several colors and patterns. The color genetics of the Angora goat is quite complicated and and not completely understood from a scientific perspective. There are multiple masking or spotting factors that help determine the outward color of a colored angora goat. White Colored Angora goats can come from one or both parents who are themselves colored. In this case they are considered "color carriers or colored factor" animals. They may carry recessive color genes and produce highly colored kids. These animals are generally less expensive to purchase so look for animals with nice mohair and breed them back to color.

Some of the foundation stock for today's colored Angora goats come from goats from the Navajo Indians, saved throwbacks from registered white pairings or commercial whites and outcrosses to other goat breeds. These animals were carefully selected and bred to enhance the color in their offsprings. Some of the earlier efforts produced colored Angora goats with poorer than white quality fleeces. The primary challenge for today's colored Angora goat breeder is to produce animals with fleeces with the quality of the traditional white registered but in color. The base of very nice quality colored Angora goats has increased tremendously in just the last two years and the top goats at CAGBA events are highly competitive withe the white goats.

Comparitive differences between Colored and White Angora goats (as observed by Ronan Country Fibers). Colored Angora goats tend to be a bit hardier than white ones. Kept together colored goats tend to be a little more aggressive than whites. Colored Angora goats have less grease in their fleece but generally not as heavy of a coat.