Earlier studies have shown that musculoskeletal disorders among animal keepers are more frequent than in other occupations. Most of the farms have expanded and the farmers who used to work alone have suddenly become a work manager with several employers. There are only a few studies made on the work environment in dairy farms. Our study is based on a questionnaire and is a part of a project called large dairy herds. The study is based on data from the persons who milk most of the time. The questions they had to answer were about the work environment, musculoskeletal disorders and the psychosocial environment. The results of the survey are presented in diagrams and figures. It was common that the dairy producer themselves answered the questionnaire.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a significant vector-borne zoonotic pathogen, causing devastating encephalitis in humans. Its geographical range includes a majority of Asian countries and has also been recognized in some western Pacific areas. The main vectors of JEV are mosquitoes belonging to the genus Culex. Birds and pigs function as hosts and virus amplifiers, whereas humans are accidental hosts. Japanese encephalitis is commonly regarded as a rural disease.

The purpose of this report was to obtain an overview of rabbit meat production in the world, in terms of breeding and feeding. It examines how different feed components contribute to the health of the rabbit as well as the quality of the carcass, and the breeding strategies that are most common in the major producing countries. The production of rabbit meat in Sweden is at present not very large, but it is gaining ground, and that is why this paper mainly deals with the rabbit production abroad. This report also examines the disease Rabbit Viral Haermorrhagic Disease (RVHD) in Sweden, where this disease can cause big problems. The rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is very special, both in its reproduction and digestion. There is no specific mating season and the digestive tract is designed to digest forage efficiently.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det fanns olika personlighetstyper hos mjölkkor av raserna SRB och SLB och om dessa personlighetstyper skilde sig mellan ras, ålder och vilken sida djuren stått på i lösdriften. Korna observerades i tre olika testmiljöer för att se huruvida konsistenta de var i deras beteenden: ostörda i lösdriften, vid mjölkning och med ett främmande objekt i lösdriften. Beteenden som studerades var normala beteenden, sociala beteenden, tramp och sparkningar vid mjölkning och interaktioner med det främmande objektet. Tolv beteendevariabler användes i en PCA (principal component analysis) och visade två komponenter som tillsammans kunde förklara 51,2 % av den totala variansen. Den första komponenten speglade aggression och extraversion, som ingår i medgörlighet och extraversion i den mänskliga femfaktorsmodellen.

Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most common endocrinologic disorders among dogs. The disorder has a complex background, and successful treatment requires a well-functioning co-operation between pet owners and the veterinarian. The purpose of this study is to investigate the owners? perspective of diabetic treatments offered, and to estimate expected length of survival post-insulin therapy. The research findings are based on a survey mailed to 77 pet owners, whose dogs were diagnosed with diabetes between 1999 and 2003 at the small animal clinic of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The median survival for the dogs that underwent insulin treatment was 31 months, i.e.

The aim of the present literature study was to define and describe the area ?compliance in veterinary medicine? (i.e. the way treatment recommendations are being performed) and discuss the factors that influence the level of compliance. Based on the findings, a model that intended to increase compliance in orthopedic postoperative rehabilitation of dogs was designed. In the daily work as a veterinary nurse it is essential that one provides the best possible care to the animals from the beginning to the end of the treatment.

Biogas is an expanding sector within the broad field of agriculture and animal production. Small-scale biogas offers local combined power and heating production and the substrate is transformed into high-quality biological fertilizer. This bachelor thesis focuses on a pig farm in south-western Sweden, where biogas is produced from pig manure, evaluates and suggests ways of optimizing the process and investigates whether investing in an upgrading plant would be a feasible and more cost-efficient option. The results show that the biogas plant is working well, although the production differs from the original plans. This shows in turn that planning and examining the basic conditions before making the investment is of great importance, as well as monitoring and keeping detailed statistics of the running process.

Hypoadrenocorticism (Addison´s disease) results from insufficient production of glucocorticoid and mineralcorticoid hormones from the adrenal glands. The disease is often difficult to diagnose in an early stage because of the multitude of associated vague clinical signs. The standard poodle is one breed presupposed to be at higher risk of developing the disease. The purpose of this study was to give a review of canine hypoadrenocorticism as described in literature, and to characterise Addison´s disease in a population of standard poodles in Sweden. Statistics on incidenceproportions by breed for hypoadrenocorticism from the database of the Swedish insurance company Agria are presented.

The animal welfare act in Sweden states that dairy cows need to have at least a dim light present at night, but there are no recommendations for what intensity the light should have. It is unknown how cows perceive and react to low light intensities and earlier studies on this topic are limited. Red light as night light has also been suggested, based on the cows? inability to perceive red light. This have however been questioned. The aim with this study was to investigate how four different light intensities affect dairy cows behavior.

Elephants are hindgut fermenters, which affects their diurnal rhythm. To reach their nutrient demands, elephants must eat almost constantly throughout the light part of the day. Sexual dimorphism may also affect their behavioral patterns. To understand the elephants' normal living habits and foraging behaviour, we conducted a pre-study in the Mara Triangle, the north-western part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Each of four to six observers randomly chose a focal animal within the group of elephants by the criteria that they were adults and visible.

Due to progresses constantly being made in veterinary medicine combined with increasing knowledge in pet owners, the dogs of today gets older than before. The population of geriatric dogs is there for constantly growing, which makes them an important group of patients on small animal clinics and hospitals. As dogs age, so do their interior organs. Geriatric dogs are prone to several diseases and in this text the author has decided to focus on three of the most common: Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (CDS), cancer and osteoarthritis (AO). All of these illnesses are incurable in dogs, but it is important to remember that they are still treatable.

Lame dogs are a common group of patients for the practicing veterinarian. In the literature it is described how a clinical examination can be performed, based on general clinical-, orthopedic- and neurological examination, and visual evaluation of the dog when standing and during motion. For research, objective gait analysis systems are also used to study clinically healthy and lame dogs during motion. The aim of this degree project was to compare objective kinematic gait analysis with a visual evaluation of dogs with different types of lameness. The project was a pilot study to show if objective gait analysis could be used as a support for the visual examination. Ten lame dogs of different breeds and with different diagnoses were included in the study. They were all patients at the University Animal hospital, Uppsala.

Mulesing är ett ingrepp som utförs på får i Australien för att förhindra att de drabbas av flugangrepp. Det är främst merinofår som drabbas av flugangrepp eftersom de har mer hudveck än andra fårraser. Merinoullen är ull av finare kvalitè och den används i kläder hos många företag runt om i världen. Mulesing eller The Mules Operation som det även kallas har praktiserats sedan 1929 och det innebär att fåren utsetts för ett kirurgiskt ingrepp med avsikt att avlägsna hudveck vid fårets bakdel. Verksamheten ökade i omfattning med tiden eftersom problemen med flugangrepp ökade alltmer.

Pharmaceuticals that are found in marine ecosystems are a threatening environmental concern, which is known to harm both animal and plant life. One of the reasons for this problem is that the waste water treatment techniques are not optimized to clear waste water from its pharmaceuticals contain. In this master thesis four Swedish treatment wetlands were studied, and their ability to reduce numerous pharmaceuticals in waste water. The four treatment wetlands that were studied were those in Oxelösund, Trosa, Nynäshamn and Eskilstuna. Two ecotoxicological tests and chemical analysis were used.

During the last decades the fertility of dairy cows has declined in the same rate as the milk yield has increased. This is a result of the negative genetic correlation between milk yield and fertility, failure to show estrous signs and metabolic problems in the cow. The purpose of this review was to investigate the function of metabolites and hormones as markers for disturbances in fertility, health and production in the dairy cow. There are several metabolites that are suggested to indicate the cow?s energy balance.