Making Goat Welfare Research Impactful

Ultimately, the goal of animal welfare research should be to improve the lives of the animals being studied. Thus, communicating research findings to stakeholders such as farmers and the general public must be integral to all projects. There are over one billion goats globally, and yet, historically, they have been neglected in terms of animal welfare research. This may have resulted from their numbers in the Global North being low compared to other livestock. Just over 10 years ago, we began to study goat welfare. Our research has shown, for example, how they express their emotions, as well as how they perceive emotions in conspecifics and humans. We have demonstrated their remarkable physical and social cognition abilities, including long-term memory, thus challenging the notion that goats are unintelligent. We have used press releases and extensive media engagement to communicate our findings to diverse stakeholders, with the aim of improving the lives of goats. Our research has now found its way into formal welfare guidance, such as for the handling and transport of goats and other livestock. Thus, we advocate for greater public engagement and science communication by animal welfare researchers in order to generate impact from their research.