Dairy goat production is growing globally to meet demand for goat milk and cheese, with welfare standards in intensive systems requiring significant improvement.
Intensive dairy goat production shares many welfare challenges with dairy cattle systems, including kid separation, metabolic stress during peak lactation, and infectious disease. Goats have some distinctive needs that require specific attention in housing design: they are agile climbers requiring vertical complexity and physical enrichment; they are highly social requiring group housing with compatible animals; and they are particularly sensitive to wet and draughty conditions causing respiratory disease. Dairy goat welfare standards are less developed than cattle standards in most jurisdictions, creating a regulatory gap that welfare organisations and industry bodies are working to address.