Dairy goats are farmed globally for milk, cheese, and other products. Their welfare needs — social contact, access to browse, and freedom from painful procedures — are often inadequately met.
Dairy goat welfare shares many features with dairy cattle welfare but has historically received less regulatory attention. Disbudding of kids — removing horn buds by hot-iron cauterisation — is performed without mandatory pain relief in many jurisdictions, causing significant acute pain to young animals. The social needs of goats are strong: isolated individuals show stress responses including vocalisation, pacing, and appetite suppression. Natural browsing behaviour — selecting from shrubs, trees, and diverse vegetation — is frustrated by simple pasture systems. Kid separation from dams, while standard practice, causes clear distress in both mother and kid. Higher-welfare dairy goat systems that incorporate analgesia for disbudding, social housing, browse provision, and either dam rearing or frequent human contact for artificially reared kids produce measurably better welfare outcomes.