How Goats Are Farmed and Killed

We may not associate goats with endurance, incredible agility and toughness but they are quite remarkable animals. Look beyond their peculiar eyes, floppy ears and playful nature and you’ll find that goats have extraordinary climbing skills, enabling them to climb up vertical dams¹ BBC, 2016. The incredible ibex defies gravity and climbs a dam. BBC, 12 July. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG9TMn1FJzc at just a few days old and have adapted to live in some of the most extreme environments around the world.

Goats are not only excellent climbers but different breeds have evolved to survive a wide range of climates. They are found in a range of terrains, from the Rocky Mountains of North America to the very high montane forests of Turkey and East Africa. The mountain goats of North America are perhaps the most famous of wild goats, roaming high-altitude habitats, withstanding temperatures of -46°C and winds that reach almost 100mph. With strong necks and shoulders, as well as their specialised hoofs, mountain goats can climb up 450m vertically in less than 20 minutes² Wild Republic. 2024. Mountain goat. Available at: https://www.wildrepublic.com/product/mountain-goat#:~:text=The%20dazzling%20white%20of%20their,feet%20in%20just%2020%20minutes– that’s about five times the height of Big Ben!

While goats of many breeds survive in incredibly tough, gruelling conditions, they maintain a playful, curious nature, as witnessed in the viral video of wild goats taking over Llandudno, a Welsh town, during the 2020 lockdown⁵Guardian News. 2020. Goats take over empty Welsh streets as residents observe coronavirus lockdown. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcDvM3PdVsc ; or the craze that is goat yoga (goats doing yoga with people). A 2018 study⁶Nawroth C et al. 2018. Goats prefer positive human emotional facial expressions. Royal Society Open Science. 29 August. Available at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.180491  revealed that goats prefer to be around people with happy faces rather than those with angry expressions and that they have extraordinary communication skills with humans. Just like so many farmed animals who have been stereotyped unfairly, goats have been given a bad rap as greedy animals who will eat just anything. There is clearly more to them than meets the eye.

Where Do Goats Descend From?

Today’s wild goats give us a good idea of what domesticated goats’ natural lives would be like if they weren’t farmed – in the UK, primarily for their milk and, to a lesser degree, their flesh.

Domesticated goats are a subspecies of the wild goats of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe and are a member of the Bovidae family.¹Ultimate Ungulate. 2024. Family Bovidae, cattle, antelopes and goats. Available at: https://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodactyla/Bovidae.html  There are just under a billion goats across the world today, with over 200 distinct breeds. They were one of the first animals to be domesticated and used by humans, at least 10,000 years ago.² Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Goat. Available at: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/goat 

Wild Goats

Wild goats still live around the world, mostly in Southwest Asia, and if we ceased to use goats for meat and dairy, there would still be a diverse number across multiple continents. The mountainous terrain they inhabit is very different to the confined conditions in which they’re kept in modern farming. They are small ruminants, like sheep, though much more agile than their woolly cousins.

Goats are naturally independent and curious animals, with a complex, matriarchal social structure in the wild.²Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Goat. Available at: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/goat  Strength, size and age are important factors in deciding a leader and social status tends to be handed down through the generations.

Natural Diet

Contrary to popular belief, goats won’t eat just anything. They are browsers, meaning that they will explore and eat a diverse range of vegetation such as roots and shrubs and will even climb trees to reach particularly tasty leaves.²Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Goat. Available at: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/goat  Goats will eat lots of grass and hay, but twigs, leaves and shrubs are their real favourites in the wild!

Life Expectancy of Goats

A domestic goat’s life expectancy ranges from approximately 12 to 15 years, depending on the breed. Some wild breeds can live for up to 20 years.³World Life Expectancy. Domestic Goat. Available at: https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/mammal-life-expectancy-domestic-goat 

Predators

There are a variety of natural predators for goats, ranging from foxes and eagles, who prey on kids, to coyotes, wolves and mountain lions.⁴Miller T. 2019. Top 9 goat predators in the United States. Goat Journal. Available at: https://goatjournal.iamcountryside.com/ownership/top-9-goat-predators-in-the-united-states/ 

Wild Goats and Domesticated Goats

Much of the behaviour found in wild goats is still found in domesticated goats. Despite nanny goats’ close bonds with their kids and their curious, exploratory nature, the life they endure in modern farming is a far cry from both their natural environments and way of living.

Summary

Goat’s cheese and milk are becoming increasingly popular amongst consumers,¹Global Newswire. 2024. Goat milk products market report 2024-2029. Available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/10/17/2964848/28124/en/Goat-Milk-Products-Market-Report-2024-2029-Europe-Dominates-with-the-Largest-Share-of-Over-31-of-the-Global-Goat-Milk-Products-Market.html with many mistakenly presuming that the welfare problems inherent in milking dairy cows don’t apply to goats or that goat’s milk is somehow healthier. The truth is the disturbingly similar picture of death, mutilation and disease that’s seen in dairy farming.

Size of the Goat Industry

Around 109,000 goats are farmed in the UK.²Animal and Plant Health Agency. 2024. Livestock demographic data group: goat population report. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sheep-and-goat-population-in-great-britain-annual-reports  The industry is predicted to continue to grow as consumers switch from cow’s milk in their search for more ethical or healthier milks, encouraged by misleading marketing claims from the goat industry. Delamere is one of the most well-known companies in the UK selling goat’s milk, cheese, yoghurt and butter and who encourage and profit from misleading imagery about goat farming.

Breeding

Like dairy cows, goats need to be made pregnant in order to produce milk. Impregnation usually happens around the age of 18 months through the use of a ‘stud’ billy from a line of high milking-producing animals. They have a five-month pregnancy and often produce twins or even triplets as a result of selective breeding.

Some nanny goats are impregnated through artificial insemination (AI) rather than through natural mating.³British Goat Society. 2025. Breeding. Available at: https://www.britishgoatsociety.com/about-us/breeding/#:~:text=Artificial%20insemination%20(AI)%20is%20an,possible%20for%20a%20successful%20outcome.  The process of AI is painful and traumatic for goats, who are forced to stand only on their front legs and restrained while the farmer inserts an AI gun into their vagina to deposit sperm. This unnatural impregnation causes distress, particularly when mishandling of the goats’ organs leads to nerve damage and severe pain. Inexperienced farmers practise on live animals and this inevitably leads to injuries.

To produce a milk yield which satisfies the farmer, goats are kept in a perpetual cycle of impregnation and milking, being separated from their kid shortly after birth in a similar way to dairy farming.

Kids

Goats are well-known for their mothering abilities, often fostering orphaned or rejected lambs, calves and even foals.⁴Elder L. 2018. Nanny goat “adopts” orphaned foal after tragic loss of mare. Horse and Hound. Available at https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/nanny-goat-adopts-foal-iggy-pop-sheshe-667371 Despite this, on most dairy farms the maternal needs of both nannies and kids are almost immediately curtailed after birth.

Mothers and kids are separated a few days after giving birth so that the mothers’ milk can be taken for human consumption. Nanny goats remember the distinct call of their babies and vice versa, as strong bonds are formed between mother and kid at an extremely early age.⁵ Perroux TA, McElligott AG and Briefer EF. 2022. Goat kid recognition of their mothers’ calls is not impacted by changes in fundamental frequency or formants. Journal of Zoology. 318, 4, 297-307. Available at: https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.13017  To be separated after a few hours or a few days is a painful process for both the kid and mother.

Unwanted billy goats – who can’t produce milk and are therefore seen as worthless to goat dairying – are killed in a number of ways.⁶ Humane Slaughter Association. 2020. On-farm humane killing of neonate pigs, goats and sheep. Available at: https://www.hsa.org.uk/downloads/on-farm-killing-of-new-born-livestock-november-2020.pdf  The only legislation in Britain is that there should be no “avoidable pain”.⁷Humane Slaughter Association. 2018. Humane dispatch and disposal of kids and lambs. Available at https://www.hsa.org.uk/downloads/technical-notes/tn7-despatch-and-disposal-of-kids-and-lambs.pdf   Some kids are killed with firearms, such as rifles or shotguns.⁸  A penetrative captive bolt fired into the head to produce a ‘percussive blow’ is also allowed. It is intended to make the kid lose consciousness with the first shot but it may or may not work and have to be fired again. The baby animal then has his throat cut and bleeds to death.⁸Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 2023. Red meat slaughterhouses: restraining, stunning, killing animals. Available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-meat-slaughterhouses-restraining-stunning-killing-animals#animal-stunning-and-killing  There are no official figures on how many kids are killed on farms in the UK and while some estimate the number to be around 30,000, others estimate that up to 70,000 to 90,000 kids may be killed on farms every year in the UK.⁹Cosgrove N. 2025. How many goats are there in the UK? PangoVet. Available at: https://pangovet.com/statistics/how-many-goats-are-there-in-uk/#7_Every_year_approximately_50000_dairy_goat_kids_are_butchered_in_the_UK 

Mutilations

Male kids that are kept to be fattened for the meat trade will be castrated, typically within one week of birth.¹⁰Matthews J. Should we disbud and castrate kids? Goat Veterinary Society. Available at: Should-we-disbud-and-castrate-kids-John-Matthews.pdf  Compared to sheep farming, goat farming remains relatively small in the UK and so there is substantially less research on the effects of castration. It is generally acknowledged that castration causes pain and distress; however, there is no legal requirement for pain relief if the kid is under two months old.¹⁰Matthews J. Should we disbud and castrate kids? Goat Veterinary Society. Available at: Should-we-disbud-and-castrate-kids-John-Matthews.pdf Over this age, anaesthetic is required. Because anaesthesia would cost the farmer, it is probable that most kids are castrated while fully conscious, feeling everything that is done to them. This is exactly what Viva! filmed on a leading UK goat farm.

Kids are born with vestigial horn buds and in the dairy industry, they are disbudded within the first seven days of birth.¹¹British Veterinary Association. 2018. BVA and Goat Veterinary Society position on goat kid disbudding and analgesia. Available at: https://www.bva.co.uk/media/1171/goat-kid-disbudding-rebranded-may-2019.pdf  The British Veterinary Association acknowledges that disbudding can cause “stress, acute pain […] and the possibility of chronic pain”, such that the mutilation can cause “changes in behaviour” through the “pain and distress” caused. Again, Viva! has filmed the shocking procedure of disbudding.

Dehorning mature goats is a stressful procedure that is avoided as much as possible.¹²Defra. 2023. Code of recommendations for the welfare of livestock: goats. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/goats-on-farm-welfare/code-of-recommendations-for-the-welfare-of-livestock-goats

Life Cycle

Most female kids are typically removed from their mothers within hours or days after birth and subsequently fed milk replacer so that the mother’s milk can be used solely for human consumption.¹³[13] Anzuino K, Knowles TG, Lee MRF et al. 2019. Survey of husbandry and health on UK commercial dairy goat farms. The Veterinary Record. 185 (9) 267. Sometimes the kid and mother will not even have that interaction as many young are fed immediately by bottle to manage their colostrum intake.

When the mother goat’s milk yield starts to dry up, she will be made pregnant again and the whole process is repeated again.

After a number of cycles, when her milk yield starts to permanently drop, she will be slaughtered, her place being taken by a young female. Depending on whether the kid is a ‘pedigree’ breed or not, the British Goat Society (BGS) recommends impregnation between six and 18 months of age.³ British Goat Society. 2025. Breeding. Available at: https://www.britishgoatsociety.com/about-us/breeding/#:~:text=Artificial%20insemination%20(AI)%20is%20an,possible%20for%20a%20successful%20outcome.

Milk Yield

Following birth, lactation in a non-pregnant goat can be maintained for up to two years, but as this protracted lactation results in lower milk yields, most commercial farms impregnate their nanny goats every year. Some farms assess a goat’s milk yield after 200 days and if found to be exceptionally high, she will be bred again in the hope of passing on her high-yielding characteristics to her female offspring. It is referred to as ‘selective breeding’ and can lead to unnaturally large udders, which cause severe discomfort and pain to goats.

Saanen goats are the breed of choice in UK commercial dairy farms due to their high milk yield and relatively placid nature.¹⁴ British Goat Society, 2025. British Saanen. Available at: https://www.britishgoatsociety.com/about-us/breeding/#:~:text=Artificial%20insemination%20(AI)%20is%20an,possible%20for%20a%20successful%20outcome. 

The average milk yield a year per goat is around 700 to 900 litres.¹⁵Gokdai A et al. 2020. Milking characteristics, hygiene and management practices in Saanen goat farms: a case of Canakkale province, Turkey. Italian Journal of Animal Science. 19 (1). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1828051X.2020.1718006#abstract As farmers push for ever greater yields, more and more goats are being forced to pump out unnaturally large quantities of milk, with some goats producing up to 2,000 litres in a year.¹⁶ British Goat Society. British goats are the best. Available at: https://www.britishgoatsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Web_3-British-Goats-Are-Best.pdf

Housing and Intensification

Goats are uniquely suited to thriving on tough, mountainous terrain but in the UK, most farmed goats are kept for their entire lives in massive zero grazing farms (they never go outside) or very limited grazing units.¹⁷Dean Farm Trust. Goats. Available at: https://deanfarmtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/DFT_Infosheet__Goats_200513.pdf It’s done for the ease of herd management and makes life easier for farmers but is certainly not good for the goats, who are naturally active and inquisitive animals.

Goat-keeping trends have seen the size of milking herds grow from a handful kept as pets to large zero-grazed commercial farms. It is estimated that the commercial dairy goat population now stands at around 45,000 ¹⁸Harwood D. 2023. Understanding the UK goat sector in 2023. Available at: https://www.ukvetlivestock.com/content/clinical/understanding-the-uk-goat-sector-in-2023/#:~:text=sheep%20running%20together.-,Commercial%20dairy%20goat%20keeping,6000%20on%20a%20single%20holding. with demand predicted to rise annually as more people buy into the ‘healthy alternative’ myth, perpetuated by the industry.

While the market for goats remains fairly small, especially in comparison to the millions of cows used in the dairy industry, Viva! has exposed the misleading claims and inherent cruelty behind the goat’s milk industry – it is not a kinder alternative to cow dairy farming.

Zero Grazing

The majority of goat products come from indoor systems. Farmers argue that the breeds of goats they consider best for milking haven’t evolved to a British climate and therefore must be kept indoors. For example, goats’ feet have evolved for rocky, hard terrains rather than soft, wet ground found in the UK, which, they claim, risks infections.¹⁹ Delamere. 2024. Animal Welfare. Available at: https://www.delameredairy.co.uk/about-us/animal-welfare/

The fact that goats have not evolved for British, muddy environments is touted as an excuse for intensive, zero grazing environments which have no interest for these curious, playful animals. Zero grazing is an abomination, depriving these highly intelligent creatures of all that is natural to them.

Disease and Illness

Despite being generally hardy animals, when goats are ill they rapidly “lose the will to live”.¹²Defra. 2023. Code of recommendations for the welfare of livestock: goats. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/goats-on-farm-welfare/code-of-recommendations-for-the-welfare-of-livestock-goats They are vulnerable to multiple notifiable diseases (meaning the Government’s Defra ministry has to be informed), including anthrax, bluetongue, goat pox, and foot and mouth disease (FMD).²⁰Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 2021. Sheep and goats: Health Regulations. Available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monitoring-prevention-and-control-of-disease-in-sheep-and-goats#critical-illnesses-of-sheep-and-goats

FMD can cause sudden, severe lameness, increased lamb mortality rates and produce sores and blisters covering the feet, mouth and tongue. There is no treatment other than to kill every goat suspected of being infected.²⁰Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 2021. Sheep and goats: Health Regulations. Available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monitoring-prevention-and-control-of-disease-in-sheep-and-goats#critical-illnesses-of-sheep-and-goats

Scrapie is a fatal brain disease (related to mad cow disease) and is a “significant cause of death in sheep and goats”.²⁰Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 2021. Sheep and goats: Health Regulations. Available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monitoring-prevention-and-control-of-disease-in-sheep-and-goats#critical-illnesses-of-sheep-and-goats It is impossible to confirm whether a goat has scrapie until they have been killed and so goats suspected of scrapie receive the same ‘treatment’ – slaughter – as goats affected by FMD.²⁰Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 2021. Sheep and goats: Health Regulations. Available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/monitoring-prevention-and-control-of-disease-in-sheep-and-goats#critical-illnesses-of-sheep-and-goats

For intensively farmed goats, the parasitic disease Coccidiosis is common due to the concentration of faeces in confined spaces.²¹Goat Journal. 2022. Preventing and treating coccidiosis in goats. Available at: https://goatjournal.iamcountryside.com/health/coccidiosis-in-goats/ It especially affects kids during the stressful separation from their mothers and can lead to diarrhoea with streaks of blood, followed by severe dehydration and even death.

In general, goats are susceptible to many of the same diseases as sheep, such as clostridial diseases, foot-rot, worms, live fluke and external parasites.²²National Animal Disease Information Service. Disease A-Z for sheep. Available at: https://nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/sheep/ They can also transmit zoonotic diseases to people, such as Q fever and rabies, thus posing a threat to human health stemming directly from the way we use and farm them.²³Cornell University. Zoonotic diseases of sheep and goats. Available at: https://www.vet.cornell.edu/animal-health-diagnostic-center/programs/nyschap/modules-documents/zoonotic-diseases-sheep-and-goats

Culling

In the wild, goats would generally live between 15 and 18 years but for those exploited for commercial interests, culling is normally carried out around six years of age.²⁴AWC. Opinion on the welfare of goats at the time of killing. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f19ad20e90e07456b18abc6/AWC_Opinion_on_the_welfare_of_goats_at_the_time_of_killing.pdf Generally, this is when their milk yield drops and they’re no longer considered a profitable commodity. They’re sent to market and sold for meat.

As soon as a goat’s milk yield starts to decline, she is sold for slaughter.

Like most animals at slaughter, goats must be pre-stunned before being killed. The most common method is electrical stunning, where a slaughterer places electrodes on either side of the animal’s head with a device like a large pair of tongs. Its effectiveness depends on where the electrodes are placed on the head, the current and how long they’re applied – and it can fail on all counts.

The other method used is a penetrative captive bolt that is shot into the skull of a goat to make them instantly unconscious.¹Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 2023. Red Meat Slaughterhouses: Restraining, Stunning, Killing Animals. Available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-meat-slaughterhouses-restraining-stunning-killing-animals#animal-stunning-and-killing  The animal is then shackled by a hind leg and hoisted up onto an overhead rail where the slaughter worker ‘sticks’ it, meaning the goat’s neck is sliced open and the animal bleeds to death. Although brutal, it sounds like a straightforward process but human error and equipment failure “‘severely compromise animal welfare’”, with even a low percentage rate of error leading to thousands of goats suffering agony when they are killed.²Humane Slaughter Association. Captive Bolt-Stunning of Livestock. Available at https://www.hsa.org.uk/introduction/introduction

Although it is argued that the death is painless if the goat is successfully stunned, the moments leading up to the stunning and slaughter are often terrifying for the animal. They can hear the noises and smell the fear of other goats in the slaughterhouse, and some do all they can to try and escape. It is a brutal, traumatic experience which slashes a goat’s natural life expectancy by many years.

The stunning process does not guarantee that the goat will lose consciousness before being killed. Their skulls are hard to penetrate, and human error means that the stun person will not always fire the bolt into the head correctly. Goats may also regain consciousness while they are hung up about to have their throats slit; one can only imagine the pain of bleeding to death, dragged upwards by one leg.

In England and Wales in 2024, approximately 30 million sheep, goats, cattle and poultry were subjected to non-stun slaughter to meet the religious demands of certain faiths.³Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 2024. Results of the 2024 FSA Slaughter Sector Survey in England and Wales. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/farm-animals-slaughter-sector-survey-2024 They are bled to death by having their throats slit while fully conscious. While not all animals who are slaughtered for religious purposes are killed without pre-stunning, it is likely that many British consumers unknowingly eat animal products which have come from non-stunned animals because of poor labelling on meat products.⁴  Riley J. 2022. Better labelling needed as kosher meat reaches non-kosher markets. Farmers Weekly. Available at: https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/better-labelling-needed-as-23-of-kosher-sheep-reach-non-kosher-markets