Dairy goat production involves separating kids from their mothers at birth or within hours, causing acute distress. Kid welfare in dairy goat systems receives less public attention than equivalent issues in dairy cattle.
The acute distress of maternal separation in goats involves intense vocalisation, searching behaviour, and reduced food intake in both mother and offspring. Male kids that are killed at birth rather than reared experience a welfare harm that is avoided where rearing systems for males are developed. Kids reared in groups without maternal contact have fewer social behaviour deficits than those reared in individual pens. The welfare case for extended suckling or dam-rearing in dairy goats is similar to that in dairy cattle and equally well-supported by behavioural evidence.