This work is a literature review along with interviews from nine suckler herds. How to reducecalf mortality in the cow herd is the focus of this paper. To get profitability of a herd, it isimportant that you get a live calf per cow and year. Good fertility of the cows thus is veryimportant. During the years 2007 - 2008, approximately 5.5% of all calves born by beef cowsdied and about 8.5% of the calves born by heifers died.

Habituation to an automatic milking system (AMS) for cows in their first lactation differs from habituation to other milking systems. In AMS the cows are supposed to visit the milking station (MS) voluntarily. The milking takes place individually during the whole day, except when the milking system is cleaned. Milking is carried out without any human survey. The aim of the study was to describe the cow?s introduction in AMS in their first lactation.

The heterosis effect and breed group effect of crossbreds between Swedish Holstein (SH) and Swedish Red (SRB) was estimated in this study. Observations on cows born between 1990 and 2012 were used to estimate the heterosis effect and breed group effect for several traits included in the Nordic breeding goals: production, fertility, udder health, Calving performance, survival and other diseases. Breeding within the Holstein dairy breed has earlier been focused on increased milk production and conformation. This, combined with an intensive use of individual animals, has resulted in a radical increase of milk yield in the Holstein dairy cow population all over the world. However, this breeding strategy has resulted in increased inbreeding and several functional traits have impaired.

Milk fever, or parturient paresis, is the second most common disease in Swedish dairy cows. The disorder is associated with the onset of lactation when some cows are unable to meet the metabolic demands of calcium to support milk production and therefore develop a state of hypocalcaemia. Clinical hypocalcaemia (milk fever) may lead to coma and death in severe cases but subclinical hypocalcaemia has also been shown to have negative effects on e.g. feed intake and production and to increase the susceptibility of the cow to develop secondary diseases. The nutritional strategy applied preCalving is of great importance in preventing milk fever and e.g.

A shorter dry period length has in studies abroad showed some positive effects among high yielding dairy cows. Among other things it has been suggested that the periparturient metabolic stress becomes lower, that the fertility is improved and dry off becomes gentler for the udder, due to a lower milk yield. The milk yield is generally reduced during the first period after Calving, especially among primiparous cows. The aim of this master thesis was to investigate how Swedish cows were affected by a shortened dry period, regarding milk yield, metabolism, health, body condition and body weight from two months before Calving to some weeks after Calving. Also plasma concentration of lactose during the period before Calving was determined.

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.

Nötcenter Viken is a Swedish nucleus herd for dairy cattle. The goal for the farm is to select suitable mothers for the next top generation of bulls. Today the selection for udder health is based on a pedigree index and phenotype data. The pedigree index is based on the cow?s father and grandfathers breeding values.

The Effects of dietary biotin supplementation on hoof health in Swedish dairy cows - a controlled cohort field study. The aim of the present degree project was to investigate the effects of biotin supplementation on hoof health in dairy cows. The experiment was performed as a controlled cohort study in three commercial farms in western Sweden from January 2002 to October 2002. The cows were all housed in cubicle systems with transponder concentrate feeding systems. Within each farm the cows were allocated to either biotin or control treatment. The biotin groups received 20 mg of biotin per cow and day, starting 14 days before expected Calving.

In order to optimize calf welfare and health it is important to know the behavior of cattle in free ranging conditions. When the cow is about to give birth to a calf she will leave the heard about 12 hours before. It is then rather obvious that isolating the cow about Calving time in a single pen is imitating the cows? natural behavior. To save space and minimize building cost it?s common that the farmers build Calving pens for four of five cows especially at larger farms.

The dry period is usually 6-8 weeks and in this period the basis of the performance in the following lactation is settled. In an average herd about 15% of the cows are dry (Marcussen & Krog Laursen, 2008). In many herd the dry cows are set aside, that means setting aside 15% of your herd, at the time when they are preparing for their next lactation. The recommendation for number of groups differs depending on country traditions or reasons for grouping. If you look at recommendation for feeding, some companies selling feeding equipment advocates one group throughout the dry period, but the number differs from one to three.

The dry period is usually 6-8 weeks and in this period the basis of the performance in the following lactation is settled. In an average herd about 15% of the cows are dry (Marcussen & Krog Laursen, 2008). In many herd the dry cows are set aside, that means setting aside 15% of your herd, at the time when they are preparing for their next lactation. The recommendation for number of groups differs depending on country traditions or reasons for grouping. If you look at recommendation for feeding, some companies selling feeding equipment advocates one group throughout the dry period, but the number differs from one to three.

This study is based on an earlier interdisciplinary study made by Redbo et al., (2000), Extensive cattle production systems ? out wintering, which lasted over two winters, 97/98 and 98/99, with two groups of heifers indoors and two groups of heifers outdoors raised in different environments, indoors or outdoors during their second winter. Both indoor and outdoor heifer groups were fed grass silage ad libitum throughout the experimental period that lasted from October until May. The objective of this study was to evaluate the long term effects of being raised in these two environments. This study includes data collected during the period lasting from the start of the experiment of Redbo et al., (2000) until the heifers had calved a second time and the results mainly deal with the performance of the animals after the experiment during their first two Calvings and their first lactation.

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.

Migration and giving birth are crucial decisions for animals during their life cycle, which may have lasting consequences on their population demography and fitness. Migration can entail a variety of possible effects for an individual, such as access to high quality food and reduced risk for predation. The moose (Alces alces) in northern Sweden is partially migratory and moose females are known to give birth to one or two calves. The synchrony between time of Calving and timing of migration has not been compared before, especially in terms of energy maximizing and time minimizing perspectives, which may provide vital cues for fitness benefits of migration. I investigated effect of timing of birth and individual life history on distance, timing, stopovers and duration of 190 individually marked female moose that have been tracked for multiple years in ten different areas in northern Sweden.

In Kenya the Maasai pastoralists have based their livelihoods on dairy production and the production goal is to maintain a sufficient milk supply throughout the year. The pastoral dairy production has two vital characteristics; breeding and milking. Traditionally, breeding is the men?s responsibility, while milking is the duty of women. Depending on this partition of chores between men and women, they also have different management routines, ambitions and strategies regarding the milk production.