Cashmere production involves millions of Mongolian and Chinese goats managed under conditions that range from traditional pastoral to intensive confinement.
Cashmere production spans a wide welfare spectrum. Traditional herding on the Mongolian steppe, while physically demanding for animals, allows goats to express natural behaviors across open landscapes. Intensive confinement systems at the other end of the spectrum provide no such opportunity. The environmental consequences of cashmere overproduction also create indirect welfare costs through habitat degradation and resulting food scarcity. Sustainable cashmere certification programs that address both animal welfare and grazing management are the most effective reform pathway.