Goat disbudding to prevent horn growth is standard practice in dairy goat production, raising welfare concerns about the procedure itself and about the social welfare benefits of horn removal in group housing.
Goat disbudding creates a welfare dilemma - the procedure causes acute pain but prevents the chronic welfare problems of horn-related injuries in group housing. The resolution is not whether to disbud but how: with appropriate local anaesthesia and post-operative pain relief, acute pain is substantially reduced. The persistence of disbudding without anaesthesia reflects cost and knowledge barriers rather than necessity. Selection for polled genetics offers a long-term solution that eliminates both the acute welfare cost of disbudding and the chronic welfare costs of horn-related injuries. Policy requiring anaesthesia for all disbudding, combined with support for polled breeding programmes, addresses both welfare dimensions.