See also Goat Cheese
Properly, Chèvre, this is a French word with two main meanings. The first is the literal translation: goat.
The second is more colloquial, but still universally understood--at least in France: goat cheese, or a cheese made from goat milk.
Within the wider cooking industry, chèvre tends to mean light, unmatured or semi-matured goat cheeses. These have a similar texture to soft cream cheese, but the flavour is much more tangy and robust. They are much more accessible--and travel better--than the extra-mature, strongly-flavoured types enjoyed in France.
In Australia (according to Sneff) and North America (according to anthropod) chevre normally refers to this variety of soft, semi-matured goat cheese. Sneff adds that Larousse says that chèvre in France means any goat cheese with at least 45 percent butterfat. While Mi-chèvre is a cow/goat milk blend containing at least 25 percent butterfat.
In any case, most French goat cheeses are primarily hand made on individual farms, often subsidised by EU grants.