Dairy goat welfare is shaped by housing design, disbudding practices, social management, and kid separation - with significant variation between small-scale artisanal and industrial production systems.
Goat welfare has historically received less research attention than cattle or pigs despite significant global populations in farming systems. Key welfare concerns include disbudding without pain relief (a practice that causes measurable acute pain and would be unacceptable if applied to other species), male kid disposal, and housing that fails to meet complex environmental needs. Goats are inquisitive, active animals that develop stereotypies in barren environments. Welfare-positive goat farming provides pain relief for disbudding, enriched housing with climbing structures, social stability, and alternative uses for male kids rather than immediate slaughter.