In the Maasai Mara National Reserve the native people, the Maasai, have lived for a long time following their own traditions. Their traditional lifestyle is that of a nomadic people, leading their Cattle to the best grazing. Sharing their land with a large variation of different animals, one of them being the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana), the Maasi people have since long adapted to a life side by side with these giants, as well as the fierce predators living in the area.The aim of this study is to determine whether the Maasai settlement, known as Boma, has any impact on the elephants in the surrounding area. In order to conclude whether the bomas has an impact or not, observations of the wildlife were carried out. Observations were conducted in two different seasons, in December 2003 and May/June in 2004.

Lameness causes suffering and poor performance in sheep, as in other species. The cause of lameness often originates in problems of the claws. Many claw diseases of sheep are described in British and Australian research, but this field has previously not been of special concern in Sweden. This graduate thesis contains the first claw health survey made on Swedish sheep. The chief objective was to give an overview of sheep claw diseases and to assess claw health in adult sheep.

The aim of the study was to find repetitive behavioral patterns pre calving that could be used as indications of calving in beef Cattle. In the study sixteen Standing- and lying down sensors were attached to the leg of sixteen beef cows. Ten of the sixteen beef cows gave birth to calves during the trial period. From these ten cows, data from six cows were used to assess the sensors fitness for use as calving indicators. The analytical part of the experiment was divided into two parts, calculation of divergence of mean lying time within different time intervals, and the number of lying bouts.The first part consisted of optimization of an equation used to highlight divergence in mean lying time within eight different time intervals (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24 hours).

The presence of cystic ovarian follicles represents an important ovarian dysfunction and is a major cause of reproductive failure in dairy Cattle. A cystic ovarian follicle is a persistent follicular-like structure on one or both of the ovaries. It is at least 2,5cm in diameter and it has to persist for at least ten days while a corpus luteum is missing. There are two kinds of cystic ovarian follicles, those who have a progesterone production and those who have not. A clear definition for this condition is lacking, probably because the heterogeneity of the clinical signs and the complexity of the disorder.

Värdet av att beta naturbetesmark är stort, både för den biologiska mångfalden men även för bevarandet av öppna kulturlandskap med stora rekreations- och kulturhistoriska värden. Då naturbeten är permanenta beten måste parasitsmitta av inälvsparasiter på betet förebyggas för att inte bli ett problem. Problem som kan orsakas av parasitangrepp är framför allt försämrad tillväxt hos djuren men även klinisk sjukdom såsom t.ex. diarré eller blodbrist. Förstagångsbetande individer är särskilt känsliga för parasitangrepp och måste därför skyddas från parasitsmitta i möjligaste mån.

Landlocked Tajikistan is situated in Central Asia and is not only the smallest republic of Central Asia, but it is also one of the most mountainous with some of Central Asia?s highest peaks. Tajikistan is currently and historically the most financially disadvantaged country within Soviet Union/Russian territories. Agriculture is the main occupation for more than half of the country?s population. Unfortunately, however, only 7% of Tajikistan is arable land and the agriculture productivity is low.

The horse has been domesticated for several thousand years. It has gone from being used primarily for food and transportation, to become one of the most popular pets in Sweden. With over 150,000 practitioners, horseback riding is one of the biggest sports in Sweden and there is a variety of specializations to choose from. One orientation is western riding which is a broad sport with several disciplines where most originate in Cattle work and other ranch tasks. Western riding is a growing sport in Sweden with an increasing number of practitioners and with many different organizations and associations, it is important that the correct knowledge of the equipment used is disseminated. Artificial aids are available in a variety of designs and the most common variants used by western riders in Sweden is draw reins or some forms of martingale.

Extensively kept animals for meat production have the right to live in a good environment. Cattle (Bos Taurus) as social animals live in small herds in the wild. When holding animals extensively new problems have arisen regarding human ? animal interactions. One welfare problem is to be able to come close enough to the animals to investigate their health condition.

In developing countries such as Vietnam the population consumes more animal products for example milk and meat than before which requires greater livestock production. Ruminants contributes to more methane emission which creates a dilemma between food production and its environmental impact. By feeding ruminants with nutritive crops which humans can not assimilate the animal performance will increase in terms of better growth and milk production without inpinging on food that can be consumed directly by humans. Increasing animal performance reduces methane emission in terms of amount of methane in kg-1 milk and meat which today is much greater in developing countries than developed countries. The aim of the study was to investigate tropical tannin-rich legumes for their potential as a feed supplement for ruminants made in vitro.

This work focuses on the relation between human and animals and especially on the relation between horses and human. I have brought up the human och horse relationsship, today, and in history and wrote about the behaviour of the horse. Some older studies with human and animal interaction, including animals like dog and Cattle are discussed. I have also discussed physiological parameters that might influence the bond and the interaction between human and horse and some critical aspects concerning the methodology when studying this kind of physiology. The purpose of the experimental study was to analyze if common management routines and grooming of horses increases horses interest in making contact with humans. Many horse owners feel that they have a good connection with their horse and factors that can influence the relationsship could be physical contact, feeding or some challange that make the horse trust the human.

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.

In Peru guinea pigs are raised for meat production and salmonellosis is considered as a major problem. Studies have detected salmonella in animals with enteritis and pneumonia. Salmonellosis exists both in an acute and a chronic form. In the rural areas the diagnosis is made according to clinical signs and macro pathological findings at autopsy. The major systems applied for the guinea pig production are often classified as family, family-commercial and commercial. These systems differ in number of animals and how industrialised they are.

Uganda is one country with fastest growing populations in the world and with more than 25% of the population living in poverty. There is a rapid rural urban migration with increasing demands for food for low income earners especially in these areas. One way to mitigate food insecurity is to increase milk and meat production efficiency, and thus reproductive performance of cows is crucial for good production. A well-documented strategy for improving dairy cow productivity through faster genetic improvement is to breed dairy cows using proven semen via artificial insemination (AI). AI has been used in Uganda for over 60 years but only less than 10 %, a small population of the country?s herd has been bred that way. The aims were to study knowledge, attitude and practices factors influencing cow fertility results on dairy farms around Kampala using AI and to propose ways of promoting increased use of AI in Uganda.

The purpose with this study was to analyze the possibilities to produce organic lambs and to hihglight the most common difficulties in such a production system. A description of current organic and conventional lamb production systems was conducted, both from Sweden and from some other countries. The Department of Animal Environment and Health at SLU in Skara performed the project together with The County Board of Agriculture in Västra Götaland and Värmland and The Swedish Animal Health Service. The project lasted from 2002 to 2004. The student report contains the years 2002 and 2003. In the year of 2003 there were 210 000 adult sheep in Sweden, of which 16 400 adult sheep were certified by KRAV. Of the different countries in Sweden, Västra Götaland and Gotland had the largest number of sheep, 14 and 13 per cent of the total number.

Interaktioner mellan vilda herbivorer och nötboskap är väldigt komplexa. Bland nackdelarna väger överföring av sjukdomar tyngst. Uppskattningsvis har cirka 70 % av alla sjukdomar hos boskap (inklusive zoonoser) som uppkommit på senare tid sitt ursprung hos vilda djur. Sjukdomar kan spridas via direkta kontakter eller indirekta interaktioner (luft, kroppsvätskor, avföring, kött eller mjölk) mellan vilda djur och boskap. Några exempel på sådana sjukdomar är: East Coast Fever, Corridor disease, January disease, katarralfeber, trypanosomos samt mul- och klövsjuka.