The Welfare of Goats

This book focuses exclusively on the welfare of goats, which have peculiar behavioral characteristics and needs, and distinct individual personalities. Despite the many differences between goats and sheep, welfare and health issues of small ruminants have often been addressed together.

Goats are extremely adaptable, now widespread and farmed all over the world. Usually bred for economic purposes (milk, meat and/or fibre), goats are also occasionally kept as pet animals, in educational farms, in zoos or for animal-assisted therapy. This wide range of conditions may elicit different challenges for their welfare.

Readers of this volume are introduced to the goat species, starting from its origin and domestication process, and presentation of its natural behaviour and characteristics, including recent data on goats’ ability to communicate, cognition capabilities and personality. Knowledge of these features is indispensable to allow a welfare-friendly approach to goat management. The authors then address all relevant aspects of goat welfare, covering issues related to housing, feeding, painful procedures and end-of-life management, with special emphasis on welfare challenges in adverse environments. An additional chapter is dedicated to the main health problems that can jeopardize goats’ welfare. Finally, this volume highlights the latest research to on-farm welfare assessment with indicators and protocols for evaluation.

This work will appeal to scholars of animal welfare science and biology, stakeholders in the livestock industry, as well as experts in goat-assisted interventions and pet owners. Video and audio files enrich the reading experience and can also be played from the print book using the free Springer Nature More Media app.

Where do goats come from?.- Goats’ natural behaviour.- Goat Emotions, cognition, and personality.- Welfare issues in goat farming: housing and nutrition.- Welfare issues in goat farming and management.- Painful procedures, transport and end-of-life management.- The welfare of goats in adverse environments.- Enhancing animal welfare through disease prevention in goats.- Assessing the welfare of goats.- Where are goats going? The future of goats for farming and other purposes.

Silvana Mattiello is Professor of Animal Husbandry at the University of Milan. Her main research interest is animal management and welfare, with a particular focus on small ruminants. She was Principal Investigator of the 7° FP “AWIN”, where she developed a protocol for welfare evaluation of dairy goats; she coordinated the project DEMOCAPRA for the development and dissemination of innovative sustainable farming systems for dairy goats, and she is presently leading the EIP-AGRI project VOCAPRA, which aims to set up an automatic system for recognition of dairy goat vocalizations. She published 75 papers in international journals, two books on deer management and several book chapters on animal behaviour and welfare.

Monica Battini is researcher at the University of Milan. Her main research interest is focused on animal welfare in ruminants, with specific studies conducted on human-animal relationship and communication, emotions and indicators of positive welfare.She has been involved in many international projects on animal welfare and she co-authored a welfare assessment protocol for goats within the framework of the European AWIN project. Monica is scientific journalist and animal welfare consultant for NGOs. She published more than 30 scientific peer-reviewed papers, more than 100 popular articles and several book chapters on animal behaviour and welfare.