Kid welfare on dairy and meat goat farms involves specific challenges around early separation, disbudding and nutrition that require careful management.
Kid welfare parallels concerns in dairy calf production but receives less regulatory and consumer attention. Early doe-kid separation causes acute and prolonged vocalisations from both animals indicating significant distress. Male kids of no commercial value are at particular welfare risk. Disbudding without appropriate anaesthesia and analgesia causes unnecessary pain. Welfare-positive dairy goat production includes appropriate colostrum provision, consideration of extended doe-kid contact or milk bar rearing, mandatory analgesia for disbudding, and humane management of surplus males.