Dairy goats produce milk across many countries, from small-scale farms to large intensive operations. Their welfare challenges include housing quality, pain management and kid separation.
Dairy goat welfare shares many parallels with dairy cow welfare but receives considerably less research and regulatory attention. The curious, active nature of goats makes barren housing particularly damaging to welfare — they need opportunities to climb, browse and explore. Debudding without anaesthesia is painful and unnecessary given that local anaesthetic and NSAIDs are available and effective. Kid separation causes vocalisations and searching behaviour lasting days in both does and kids. As goat dairy products become increasingly popular in human nutrition and artisan cheese markets, consumer interest in welfare standards is creating market incentives for improvement. Welfare certification schemes are expanding but coverage remains low compared to the dairy cattle sector.