A three-year study comparing the performance of sheep and Angora goat farms concludes mohair can get a better return than wool, a finding which offers goat farmers the opportunity to move from a fringe "hobby industry" into a mainstream commercial enterprise.

The angora goat industry agrees and last week held an open day at Monteagle, near Young, where three shearers demonstrated how easy it was to add goats to a sheep enterprise.

Jeff and Juliana Neve, members of Mohair Australia Ltd, the breed society for angora goats, watched a steady flow of possible converts at the display day.

Some shearers were prejudiced against goats, falsely considering them difficult, Mrs Neve said.

"Well, sheep are dumb," she said. "You might get a goat which will yell out, while sheep wouldn't make a noise, but there is no problem with shearing them. They don't fight as long as you lay them comfortably."

Fencing is another point of difference, according to the Mohair Australia president, Steve Roots.

"They are not like your dairy goat which will go over the fence," he said. "Your angora will go under the fence … They go around the perimeter looking for a way out - the buggers. You could say sheep are easier to contain because they will not go under."

But the upside is that mohair grows about 25 centimetres a month and needs shearing twice a year. Belly wool on sheep is also worth less than wool from the rest of the animal, whereas top quality mohair can be taken from the belly of a goat.

Mr Roots said the industry had transformed since the mohair madness of the 1990s when Angora bucks imported to improve the bloodlines commanded up to $20,000.

Australian mohair lacked the crucial feel of luxury, but farmers have overcome that by importing South African and Texan goats to breed with the locals.

"The old Australian goats had a lot of kemp which gives the fleece 'prickle factor'," Mr Roots said. "In those days, you could expect to get one kilo from an adult animal. Now it is five."

Mohair producers average $13 a kilogram for clean fibre compared with about $8 for sheep wool, returning higher profits even though they grazed far fewer animals per hectare and used less phosphate, the report from the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation says.

They achieved this without the subsidies given to the wool, pork and dairy industries. But the industry is still small, worth $2.5 million in annual exports.