The Changthangi is also known as the Pashmina goat breed. It comes from Tiber and other surrounding regions, particularly in Ladakhi Changthang. It is raised to produce meat and of course, wool. Once it is woven, it is called as pashmina.

This goat breed comes with fleece that is warm and thick. They can live in grasses found all over Ladakh where the temperature can drop up to -20 degree Celsius. Their wool produced is whats used for the popular Pashmina shawls in the market. It is recognized to be one of the finest that is exported around the globe.

It is often found in white color but can also come sometimes in colors of brown, grey or black. Their horns are large and twisted and used by farmers too as pack animals because of their strength. During the summer days, they go to the higher parts of the alpine pastures and when winter arrives, they come back down to the valleys of the land.

The mature Changthangi can produce up to 200-300 ml of milk each day after her kids are weaned. About 20% of its population is culled annually to be sold for butchers, hence it is already in the list of endangered species.

Changthangi is a well recognized breed of goat popular for its valuable produce called pashmina. The breeding tract of this goat is in the Changthang area of Leh district of Jammu & Kashmir State and is adjacent to Tibet. The breed is well adapted to the local cold arid agro-climatic conditions of the region and is reared mainly by a nomad known as ‘Changpa’. The fibre produced by this breed is the prime source for the world-class shawl industry of Kashmir. The study was carried out in 15 strata comprising 50 villages and their adjoining areas distributed throughout the breeding tract of the breed. The information collected include nature and type of native environment of the breeding tract, managemental practices, different physical characteristics like body colour, head profile, ears, horns, coat characteristics, body measurement traits; production traits like body weight at different ages, Pashmina production and quality traits, dairy performance, carcass characteristics and reproduction traits of Changthangi goat. Pashmina is unique among the animal fibres for its warmth, lightness and better ability to absorb dyes and moisture compared to mohair and wool. In addition to pashmina, this goat is also reared for chevon, milk, manure, pelt and even carriage.

The number of this goat is presently in decline and restricted mainly to Changthang area. Changthang region has harsh climatic dryness (with very low rainfall) and temperature varies from–40°C to +40°C. The majority of the animals have white coat, though brownish red, fawn, grey and black animals are also seen. The horns are brown and mostly curved in shape. The average pashmina production was 248.60±4.18 g/animal. The overall fine hair, guard hair, dusting loss percentages, fibre length, guard hair length, scouring yield and fibre diameter were 62.36±2.56%, 31.98±2.94%, 12.18±1.40%, 4.09±0.04 cm, 56.90±2.80 mm 70.52±1.51% and 11.99±0.22μ, respectively. The major breeding season is July- November. The information generated from this study shall be of immense help in devising scientific improvement programmes for this breed.