By Fred Patton

Angora goats originally came from Angora, Turkey - hence the name. They were raised for mohair that was used for rugs, upholstery in cars, clothes, cinches for saddles, and for a lot of other things. Angora goats were more confining than cattle, required more work, and also had to be watched more because of coyotes.

The highest price I remember for mohair was 60 cents per pound for kid hair and 40 cents for aged hair. It went down to 6 cents in the depression of 1929 to the early 30s. 
Most of the goat men around Skull Valley had from 2,000 to 5,000 head. I heard of a fellow by the name of Bob Gray who had 15,000 head around Bagdad, Arizona. His son Clifford Gray had goats there in the thirties and forties. Most ranchers went out of business in the late forties as synthetics displaced them. 

As far as I know, there never was a market for goat meat until somewhere in the 40s or late 30s when a fellow named McCrite started a packing plant in Phoenix. In 1934, there was one of the worst droughts in the West, and the government bought poor cattle and goats and had canneries. There was one in the community building in Skull Valley and my mother Minnie Patton ran it. I recall that it may have only lasted that one year. I'm not sure. 

One herder, usually a Mexican fellow, herded goats. The usual band was generally around 2,000. There was more to being a good herder than one might think. The herder that could herd them with the least bother and let them spread way out and still control them was the best. Most herders had two dogs. If the goats were going too fast and spread out, the dogs could be sent out to turn them back and bring them closer in. That was all done by voice and hand signals. A good herder only sent dogs once or twice a day, and that was sufficient to keep them minding to voice. They also used dogs to drive them when necessary, generally into pens. 

The goats were sheared twice a year. In earlier days, it was done with hand shears that were like grass shears. It was very hard work and very tiresome on the hands. The shearer's hands would swell badly. He would probably shear 75 to 100 goats a day. Goats had a lighter fleece in those early days. Later they were bred up to have a much heavier fleece. Probably somewhere in the late twenties, they were sheared by machine. Gasoline motor belt drives had long tubular arms with shorter arms with a cutter head - something like a barber's clippers but the cutters were turned with gears. Some men could shear 200 per day with this machine. Electricity run shears came along in about 1945. 

The goats were sheared from the last of February until the last of March in the spring. In the fall, they were sheared from the last of August into late September. Most herds sheared around six pounds per head. I knew of two ranchers whose goats sheared close to seven pounds. 

After goats were sheared, their skin was pink and thin; and, if caught far from the shed in the cold rain, they could die. I've heard of whole bands dying this way. 

There were different styles of shearing. One was to swing the goat by the horns by a rope and pulley so their front feet were off the floor. Some others put them in a trough on their back, tied their head one way and heels the other way, but this was a slow process. Another good way was to set a goat on its rump upright and lay it against a man's legs while standing and then shear the belly. Then quickly tie all four legs with a leather throng, roll the goat, and finish shearing. Some men sheared 200 a day by this method. Another fast way was to have an 8 x 10 inch hole cut in the floor. Put a right foot and leg in the hole just below knee height, reach out (small pen), get the goat by the hind leg, pull him in and drape the goat over your left leg -- which is in an upside-down "L" position -- holding the goat's head with a left elbow, leaving the left arm free and cutter head in the right hand. He could shear up to 200 a day this way, too. 

(Next week kidding and raising the goats. Fred Patton came to Skull Valley in the early 1920s when he was four years-old.) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(pb035a5p14). Reuse only by permission.
There are many ways to shear a goat as shown here when being sheared as part of an inoculation program in the 1930s. Goat ranching was big business in the Skull Valley, Kirkland, and Bagdad areas of Yavapai County. Synthetic fabrics led to the demise of goat ranching throughout the West.