Dairy goat production has grown substantially as demand for goat milk and cheese increases, bringing welfare challenges around housing systems, kid management, and health monitoring that parallel but differ from dairy cattle.
Dairy goat welfare presents unique challenges. Goats are among the most behaviourally complex farmed ruminants — their curiosity, problem-solving ability, and social sophistication mean that barren, confined environments cause significant frustration and stress. The routine killing of male kids at birth (because they cannot produce milk and are not economically valued) is one of the least visible but most significant welfare issues in the sector; systems that rear males for meat or allow some to remain as companions represent better welfare outcomes. Disbudding without anaesthesia or analgesia is painful and causes lasting sensitivity at the horn site. Welfare-positive dairy goat systems provide outdoor access, varied environments for exploration and play, appropriate social groupings, and disbudding under anaesthesia with analgesia.