REGULAR ARTICLES Herd management and welfare assessment of dairy goat farms in Northern Cyprus by using breeding, health, reproduction, and biosecurity indicators Dilek Arsoy 1 Received: 16 January 2019 /Accepted: 21 June 2019 # Springer Nature B.V. 2019 Abstract This study describes the results of a farm-based welfare assessment, herd management, and some yield indicators in Northern Cyprus dairy goat farms. Out of 324 intensive milk goat farms which produce goats, only the 42 goat farms which had 7950 heads were chosen by random sampling in Northern Cyprus (2016), and face-to-face questionnaires and observations were conducted to collect data. Regarding the breeding techniques in these farms, of all the goats in these farms, 45.2% were cross-breed, 38.1% were Damascus, 11.9% were Saanen, and 4.8% were hair goats. The average of the total number of animals was 211.38 ± 209 heads. The average number of pens and the number of animals per pen in the farms, which had 2 to 5 pens, were 67 ± 49.5 heads. The barn types of these farms were observed to be semi-open and nearly open (95%). 45.5% of the farms made a single milking in a day. The most significant reason for this was that the suckling of the kids lasted 3 months or more in 73.8% of the farms. Natural random mating was applied to 69% of the farms. The 45.2% of the farms applied additional feeding before the mating season. The rate of multiple births was 24.76%. The mortality rate in kids was greater than 10% in the 57% of farms examined. The 75% of kids had diarrhea, 33% had umbilicus infections, and 33% suffered from respiratory problems. Among the adult goats of the surveyed farms, the most important problem was external parasites (100%). The second and third problems were overgrown claws (80.9%) and common abscesses (80.95%). Regarding the biosecurity indicators, the general disinfection percentage of farms was 78.57%. However, veterinarian controls were conducted only in the 26.9% of the farms on a regular basis. In these farms, there was no significant difference between the breeds regarding their breeding and reproduction techniques or health indicators. The entrance of the farms carries a high risk for biosecurity. Heat stress is quite important factor for the milk quality. Keywords Based on goat farm welfare . Goat herd management . Goat milk fat . Goat herd health . Northern Cyprus Introduction Goat breeding has historical importance on the island of Cyprus. We can list the common breeds of goats in Northern Cyprus, mainly Damascus and Saanen, and of local hair goats and cross- breeds. The estimated total amount of goat and sheep milk pro- duction is approximately 9 tons/year. It is known that only 19.68% of estimated sheep and goat milk yield is bought and used in the cheese industry by the Milk Marketing Board. The rest is used by small and middle market farms for halloumi (local cheese) making. The goat milk farms found in Northern Cyprus are in intensive and semi-intensive conditions. Due to the hot and arid climate, there is an insufficiency of conditions for pasture lands in Cyprus. Just like the case in cattle dairy breeding, the increased demand for goat milk breeding caused a sharp rise in intensive breeding and attempts of commercialization. This brought about more concerns for animal welfare (Whay 2007; Arsoy 2017). In goat breeding, the structure of farms, breeding indicators, and animal welfare and health, all have direct impli- cations on the milk and meat yield. Furthermore, animal breed- ing methods and management, as well as animal welfare and health, criteria also determine the quality of meat products Highlights 1. Determination of herd management and health in milk goat farm in Northern Cyprus. 2. Assessment of animal welfare on farm based on breeding, health, reproduction, and biosecurity indicators. 3. How heat stress influences breeding technique and milk quality. 4. Which diseases occur generally in the milk goat farm. * Dilek Arsoy dilek.arsoy@neu.edu.tr 1 Veterinary Medicine Faculty, Department of Animal Science, Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus Tropical Animal Health and Production https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-019-01990-3