Dairy goats welfare

Abstract

Dairy goat farming is a great business opportunity for economic growth and social development, as the return on investment obtained from the activity is faster and more advantageous than in other activities focused on animal production. The type of husbandry applied to animals tends to reflect on their production, as calm and safe husbandry brings tranquility and a reasonable degree of welfare to the goats. This relationship can be important for animals such as dairy goats, who have very social behavior. They are animals that require a routine, and a change in their behavior can be very clear when something of their custom is modified. Thus, the objective of this review was to describe the events related to the rearing system, behavior, and welfare of dairy goats. It was observed in the literature that advances in animal welfare assessments and studies on bioclimatology have shown positive results for great production of goat milk. Thus, such studies prove that it is necessary to seek new standards for producing goat milk, always considering the animals' welfare.