The effect of floor type on the welfare of intensively housed goats: A review

Abstract

Goat farming is an expanding industry, and large numbers of goats are held in intensive systems. Flooring is an important aspect of the housing of goats, as it directly affects their health and welfare. Goats in intensive housing systems are commonly held on organic materials, like straw or sawdust, or on slatted concrete or wooden floors or metal mesh. As all of these floor types are different from what goats encounter in nature, these floor types might not be optimal for the welfare of these goats. This article critically examines the impact of various types of flooring on the welfare of goats in intensive housing systems. We found that conventional flooring, such as straw, sawdust and slatted or mashed floors, are least preferred by goats, as compared to solid, inorganic flooring, with rubber seemingly the most preferred. These findings contrast current practices in commercial settings, where organic materials are often used, for practical reasons, which not only affects welfare, but also negatively impact the health of the goats by affecting air quality and facilitating bacterial growth. Slatted floors, though promoting a better air quality and reducing bacterial growth, were least preferred by the goats and were associated with claw health problems. Therefore, rubber mats seem, based on the available literature, to be the preferred floor type when looking at welfare of goats in small scale settings. However, further research is needed to further innovate and develop flooring that promotes welfare and is applicable in large-scale commercial settings. As the current literature often suffers from bias, future studies aiming to determine the effect of flooring on the goats’ welfare should improve repeatability of research and control external factors to prevent bias, such as indoor climate and familiarity of goats with certain types of flooring, and also determine long-term effects of flooring on goat welfare with longitudinal studies in commercial, large-scale settings.