Fabric for lightweight sheparding

I have no advice, but I want to thank you for making me aware that “pack goat” is a thing.  I had no idea.

Where are you herding, and what is the general weather you will be dealing with? Season, temperatures, guess at rainfall?

Here for the goatloading.

I’d give some thought to the comfort of the substitute material with regard to clothing. Having fairly heavy Cordura chaffing at my crotchal region would be about as much fun as chasing down a goat that was carrying my toilet paper.

When you say “contains feed smells” do you mean that you’re hoping the backpack will contain the smell of food?  In that case I would recommend Xpac laminate fabrics over anything else, because the waterproof layer will also be a smell layer (far better than the coating on Cordura).

I can tell you that 160d and 300d Cordura, when uncoated, are pretty comfy against the skin and very tough; I can’t say I’ve used them as long pants so I wonder about breathability, but the weave is not that tight so I suspect just as good as Supplex, and I have used numerous pairs of Supplex pants as work pants with good success. In fact I would seriously consider Supplex as your potential Carhartt replacement fabric – the stuff is damn tough, and you could double up knees or seat and still stay pretty light. The 160d or 300d cordura would be defintely tougher than the supplex. Interestingly those two are pretty close in weight, both around 4 or 5 oz/sq. yd.

Sounds like a good case for tanned goat skin as a fabric.

Cheers

Sounds like a good case for tanned goat skin as a fabric.

haha I like the goatskin idea, might be tramatic for the goats though.  The weather to deal with is Washington, spring rain cover for goats, and summer sun protection.

If you’re interested in goatpacking, then you’ll love the multifunction aspect of goat tent heaters.  Although carbonmonoxcide exposure is preferable to goatstink.

I think polyester or nylon reinforced vinyl is a good material for bags and stuff- either the heavy duty truck-tarp stuff alone, or get the lighter stuff to use as a liner with a cordura outer.

What’s your case for not just using carhartts?  Or buying the single layer carhartts and sewing on a cordura front?  That sounds more comfortable to me, and making pants with heavy material is a royal pain- I did once make myself a pair of waxed canvas pants, a la filson double tin pants, and it’s time consuming to manage the fabric into the right place while you try to fell those leg seams.  Carhartts work well, and they’re cheap if you stock up at Sierra trading post when you have a coupon.  I built trails in washington, and also helped out with the horse and mule packing we did.  I thought canvas held up well, and it was pretty easy to wash, either in the machine or with a hose and a stiff brush.   For raingear, I would usually wear a light goretex shell underneath a waxed canvas jacket- the modern shell doing a much better job with having a comfortable hood  and keeping water from running down my sleeves when I was working with my hands up.