Lameness is a significant welfare problem in dairy goats, with laminitis and infectious foot conditions causing pain and production losses requiring proactive management.
Lame dairy goats experience chronic pain that significantly affects their welfare and productivity. Laminitis causes acute hoof pain that makes standing and walking painful, reducing feed intake and milk production. The more stoic nature of goats compared to cattle means that lameness is frequently underdiagnosed and undertreated, resulting in animals living with pain that is not addressed. Foot rot causes acute, severe lameness with rapid spread through flocks in wet conditions. White line disease from poor hoof horn quality causes low-grade chronic pain. The cumulative welfare cost of inadequately managed lameness in dairy goat herds is significant, affecting animals for extended periods before identification and treatment.