Welfare Issues in Goat Farming: Housing and Nutrition

Goats are kept in both intensive and extensive production systems. The most intensive farms are highly industrialized with larger herd sizes. In more extensive systems with large herds, goats have access to an outdoor area in periods or the whole year round. This may decrease animal density and thus increase the welfare of goats. Goats and goat kids can be kept in an uninsulated, cold building and, to a certain extent, may also tolerate high temperatures if they have access to shade and the barns are adequate in terms of space and design. An increase in group size while keeping the floor space per individual constant, reduces aggression, increases social tolerance and locomotion, and opens new possibilities for creating a more stimulating indoor environment. Environmental enrichment improves welfare by reducing social conflicts, providing stimulating activities, and allowing for individual differences. Overall, a heterogeneous environment offering resources and activities placed on different locations in the environment makes it possible for the animals to make individual choices. Environments allowing more individual choices may enhance welfare in itself. The ideal natural pasture should be a vegetational mosaic, more suited for satisfying the behavioural and dietary needs. When evaluating a diet at pasture, the quality of a specific feed goes beyond the mere nutritional value as it also includes the presence of any positive nutraceutical compounds and the absence of elements that can be toxic to the animal.