Many pedigree dogs are suffering from inherited diseases or personality disorders caused by selective Breeding. The Swedish lapphund is a Breed that has been suffering from some loss of genetic variation due to the heavy use of only a few males. Concerns have arisen and crossBreeding has been discussed as a way to manage gene loss. Four Breeds has been taken into consideration for this purpose; schipperke, finish lapphund, Norwegian buhund and Norwegian elkhound, black. These Breeds has been tested theoretical by a comparison of mentality and health.

The dog is unique in the way that the adult weight can vary 100 folds between the different Breeds. Despite this, most of the Breeds reach adult size before two years of age. For the large-Breed dogs this means a very rapid growth when some of them can have a weight gain of up to 150 times their birth weight. The most rapid growth occurs when the puppies are between three to six months old and that kind of rapid growth during such a short period of time makes these large-Breed puppies very sensitive to deficits and excesses of energy, nutrients and minerals. Some examples can be excess of energy, excess or deficit of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus or deficits of protein. The rapid growth can also make the large-Breed puppies predisposed to some diseases affecting the skeletal and joints.

Background The Shetland Sheepdog is a popular Breed of dogs in Sweden. The Breed is mostly used as a companion dog and is also popular within certain dog sports such as agility. The Shetland Sheepdog is not included in any Breeding programs regarding joint health. The animal insurance company, Agria had recently informed the Swedish Shetland Sheepdog Club (SSSK) that they had noted an increasing number of arthritis in the elbow joints, therefore they wanted to exclude elbow joints from the insurance until SSSK started a Breeding program against elbow dysplasia. After the start of this study Agria withdrew their demand, but the study went on as planned. Aims of this study The aims of this study was to investigate if there is any data that may show if there is a larger or smaller reason than before to suspect that the Breed has a problem with elbow dysplasia and therefore would benefit from a Breeding program regarding this.

Chronic valvular disease (CVD) is the most common cardiac disease in dogs, which account for 75% of all the cardiac cases. Cavalier King Charles spaniel (CKCS) is the most affected Breed and it´s 13th times more likely that a CKCS, between the age of 7-10 years, will die or be euthanized for cardiac disease, compared with other Breeds. The prevalence has been proven to bee independent of coat color and weight but highly dependent on age and gender in CKCS. In 2001 the Swedish Kennelclub and the Special club for cavalier King Charles spaniel created a Breeding program against CVD in CKCS. In this program dogs are not allowed to Breed until 4 years of age and have to have a heart auscultation without murmurs.

The parasite Neospora caninum is an intracellular protozoa discovered in the late 1980s. N. caninum has an indirect lifecycle which means it needs a definitive host and an intermediate host. The confirmed definitive host for N. caninum is dog and the intermediate hosts are among others dog and cattle.

The parasite Neospora caninum is an intracellular protozoa discovered in the late 1980s. N. caninum has an indirect lifecycle which means it needs a definitive host and an intermediate host. The confirmed definitive host for N. caninum is dog and the intermediate hosts are among others dog and cattle.

In most countries, the dairy industry focuses on the volume of milk produced instead of its composition. This results in a high content of water and a lower proportion of fat and protein. A high proportion of water is not desirable when processing the milk into various dairy products like cheese, cream and milk powder. High water content also increases the costs for transport and storage, and also an unnecessary, albeit marginal, strains on the world?s water reservoir.

IT-system kan delas upp i två huvudgrupper: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-system och Best of Breed (BoB)-system. Ett ERP-system definieras som ett system vars funktioner använder en gemensam databas och kan därigenom binda ihop olika IT-system. Användaren kan då enkelt komma åt data inom den egna organisationen från sin egen arbetsstation utan att söka igenom flera olika system, jämfört med system som arbetar parallellt och inte samlar data i en gemensam databas. BoB-system a?r inriktade pa? en specifik tja?nst, men a?r utvecklade fo?r att klara av att utföra den sa? bra som mo?jligt.

The objective was to examine the frequency of unwanted behaviors in the Swedish feline population and what factors in the environment, inheritance and past life that have an influence on the frequency. SLU?s web poll generator was used to create a web poll which insinuated that it was a poll with objective to make an inventory of the Swedish feline population. I wanted to avoid that only owners to cats with unwanted behaviors answered the poll. The web link to the poll was sent to SLUs students and posted on Internet forums for people interested in cats.

Skiascopy, also called retinoscopy, is a method for determining the refractive power of the eye. There are only a few, old studies made on equine refraction. The aim of this study was to investigate the refractive power in a population of Swedish horses. The study consists of a review of relevant studies done on animals and an experimental part where the refractive power of 93 horses of different age, Breed and usage was examined. A pilot study of 12 horses was performed regarding the importance of cycloplegia when doing skiascopy on horses. The results of the pilot study show no significant difference in the skiascopy results between the group before and after cycloplegia were induced. Consequently, there is no need of inducing cycloplegia before doing skiascopy in adult horses. The study shows that horses usually were emmetropic (normally sighted) with minor deviations toward myopia or hyperopia.

In today?s genetic evaluation of Swedish beef cattle, mainly traits that are directly related to productivity are measured. However, other traits, such as temperament and mature cow weight affect the economy of the farmer, as well as the welfare of the animals. This thesis evaluates possible ways of measuring new traits, with focus on temperament and mature weight of suckler cows. The goal is to examine the possible benefits of including these traits in the Swedish Breeding scheme.

Live-weight at different ages for Swedish Holsteins (SLB) and for the Swedish Red and White Breed (SRB), and the correlation to heart girth and height at withers. The aim of this investigation was to study the live-weight changes and mature weight for the Swedish Red and White Breed (SRB) and for Swedish Holsteins (SLB), and to estimate the correlations between body weight and body measurements such as heart girth and height at withers, respectively. The material used was from one of the experimental dairy herds (Jälla) of the Swedish University of Agricultural Science. It included recordings on 293 dairy cows with information from 7142 weight occasions and recordings on 275 dairy cows with information of 557 heart girth measurements and 560 measurements of height at withers. The registrations were done during 1993-2002. There was a large variation in live weight between cows in different ages and lactation stages.

Complex Vertebral Malformation (CVM) is an autosomal recessive inherited defect in the Holstein Breed. The defect has lead to structurally malformed calves and losses of pregnancies. To determine the effect of CVM on fertility in the Swedish Holstein Breed 375 Holstein bulls used in Breeding by Svensk Avel and Skånesemin were assigned to this study. 228 bulls matched the criteria of birth year, 1995-1999, > 75 inseminations and a known CVM-status. Of the total 228 bulls 53 of them were CVM-carriers and 175 were non-carriers. The SAS-programme was used to determine the effects of CVM-status, the bull?s father and birth year on Non-return rates (NRR) for 28, 56 and 168 days.

The objective was to examine the frequency of unwanted behaviors in the Swedish feline population and what factors in the environment, inheritance and past life that have an influence on the frequency. SLU?s web poll generator was used to create a web poll which insinuated that it was a poll with objective to make an inventory of the Swedish feline population. I wanted to avoid that only owners to cats with unwanted behaviors answered the poll. The web link to the poll was sent to SLUs students and posted on Internet forums for people interested in cats.

Grasslands which have been actively managed for a long time and which in modern times have not been subject to cultivation such as fertilization are called semi-natural grasslands. These rare and species-rich areas hold an ecological, biological and historical value and if the management stops these areas will likely diminish. More effective agricultural systems and a declining number of grazing animals have in Sweden, among other countries, made semi-natural grasslands less valuable as foraging areas. Shrubs and fast growing plants rapidly colonize abandoned semi-natural grasslands, threatening biodiversity. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of Breed and season on diet composition, with special reference to four competitive species found in wet areas ? in cattle grazing heterogeneous semi-natural grasslands ? and thereby contribute to improved management of these areas.