Heat stress negatively influences the performance of dairy Cattle such as lactation and reproduction. Heat stress can cause production losses as well as welfare problems. Years of research have shown that heat stress is a huge problem for dairy Cattle in both the tropics and temperate zones but no such research have so far been done in northern European countries. It seems like shade is an important tool when improving pasture conditions and therefore deserves more attention. The aim with this study was to investigate whether there is a need of providing shade for grazing dairy cows during the summer in Sweden. Two groups of lactating Swedish Red dairy cows (n=15 per group) were kept on pasture.

During recent years the use of TMR (total mixed rations) has increased in Swedish lamb production. For many years TMR has been used for Cattle and hence the information and knowledge is vast, while the knowledge concerning sheep and TMR is more limited. The aim of this thesis is to present an overview of the scientific knowledge on the subject, and also to compile practical experience from sheep farmers using TMR. The thesis begins with a literature review where different aspects relevant to the usage of TMR are dealt with. It is concluded that there are differences between sheep and Cattle that must be taken into account.

In the Swedish abattoirs there are assistants that judge the slaughtered animals in regard to diseases and injuries. All diseases and injuries assign different codes. This master?s thesis is about code 42 which means injuries of different kinds like for example bruises etc. These injuries have risen during the transport from the farm to the abattoir lairage or during the stay at the lairage before slaughter.

The manor Fållnäs gård is situated at the northern end of the bay Fållnäsviken, c. 12 km north-west of Nynäshamn, Sweden. A 300 cm long sediment core collected in the bay has been analyzed regarding pollen stratigraphy. AMS 14C dating of terrestrial macrofossils indicates that the sequence covers the last c. 5400 years.The aim has been to study vegetational changes, especially human impact, in the surroundings of Fållnäs gård.

Produktions- och optimeringspotentialen vid anaerob rötning av flytgödsel från nötkreatur granskades. Detta genom att, i laboratoriemiljö, undersöka förändringar i processtabilitet, gasproduktion och metanhalt vid tillsats av kycklinggödsel och pH-buffert med flytgödsel från nötkreatur som grundsubstrat. Tillsatsen av pH-buffert underlättade tillväxtfasen för mikroorganismerna, snabbare ökning i metanhalt och den totala metangasproduktionen ökade. Skillnaden var som störst under tillväxtfasen och avtog från stationärfas och framåt. Tillsats av kycklinggödsel har i detta fall inhiberat processen, möjligtvis på grund av ammoniakinhibering vid tillsats av det kväverika substratet som kycklinggödsel är..

In this Bachelor thesis an animal bone material from Västergarn parish is analyzed and discussed. The purpose of this thesis is to gain more knowledge about the Viking Age/Early Medieval Västergarn. Västergarn has a few remains from former days which have been discussed throughout the years and are still a bit of a mystery for archaeologists. The main focus is to inquire into whether Västergarn was an urban, complex society or a rural settlement. This will be done by studying the animal husbandry from the property of Snauvalds 1:2.

During the summer of 2005 a number of steer producers in Skåne, Sweden, found that their animals graded less favourable according to the EUROP carcass grading system when slaughtered, than ordinary. The aim with this project was to determine factors that affects the production result in steer production and to find the reason to the lower classification. The project was initiated by Anita Persson, LRF, Skåne and was preformed with supervision from Ingemar Olsson, SLU, and Jens Fjelkner, Skånesemin. Ten producers of dairy steers located in Skåne was chosen for this study. The producers were interviewed to collect information about their steer production with respect to their planning and results.

This literature study assembles current knowledge about CODD (Contagious Ovine Digital Dermatitis). The aetiology of this disease is not completely known and to obtain a manageable overview, this study aims to summarize the knowledge from published studies and shed light on the subject. Search for literature on the subject has been made in the Web of Knowledge, PubMed and Google Scholar, and has been compiled in this paper. Footrot and ovine interdigital dermatitis are differential diagnosis of CODD and they possibly have a common role in the emergence of CODD. Several studies have drawn parallels to bovine digital dermatitis.

The Cattle production in the world has been questioned in Sweden due to its negative impacts on the environment. The use of imported soya bean meal as a protein feed for Swedish Cattle results in the cutting of rainforest and an extensive use of pesticides in the countries were the soya beans are produced. As a consequence, the environmental impacts caused by Cattle production increases. A production of protein feeds in Sweden would decrease the transportations and the cutting of rainforest. For organic beef producers the possibility to produce home-grown protein feeds is important since organic protein feeds can be difficult to obtain in another way.

The impact of the distribution in the soil volume of two farm manures on the net mineralization and immobilization processes of nitrogen were studied in an incubation experiment. Cattle slurry and broiler litter were placed in the soil with three procedures for incorporation including placement on top of the soil (TOP), in the middle of the soil (MID) and mixed homogenously with the soil (MIX). During the two weeks of incubation, few significant differences in net mineralization were seen between TOP, MID and MIX. However, there was a tendency that MIX led to a larger net immobilization of N than placement at one point (TOP and MID). This is also the result in the literature.

The incidence of many of the most common diseases in dairy Cattle has been proven to be highest during the time closest to calving. It is possible that the current breeding strategy with 12 month calving intervals increases the risk for disease in dairy Cattle, which is problematic concerning both animal welfare and for economic reasons. The economic incentives behind a calving interval of 12 to 13 months have mainly been based on milk- and feed- costs and no costs due to diseases or fertility disturbances have been included.The aim of this study was to see if a lengthening of the calving interval would result in lower disease frequency. The hypothesis is that cows with a planned calving interval of 15 months have a lower disease incidence than cows with a calving interval of 12 months due to less number of calvings. Therefore the difference in disease frequency should be larger when compared over a long period of time, such as over lifetime, since cows with a longer calving interval experience fewer calvings.The study was performed between August 17th, 1994, and January 24th, 2007.

The concentration of acute phase proteins in serum is altered as a response to inflammation, infection or trauma. this makes these proteins potential biomarkers of unspecific pathological processes. In Cattle, haptoglobin and serum amyloid A are the two acute phase proteins that show the largest increase in serum concentration as a result of inflammatory processes. The haptoglobin concentration has been shown to correlate to clinical signs as well as inflammatory processes found at post mortem examination. This feature could be useful prognosis of the individual as well as for monitoring the health status of a herd or identifying carcasses that shold be examined closer at the slaughter-house.

The weather has been extremely rainy the last summers in Sweden. Because of the rain, a lot of harvested straw has been lost since it was too wet to store. When the pig producers couldn?t get enough straw to use as bedding, an alternative was requested. Silage is a realistic alternative to straw but since silage often contains clover, it may not be suitable to use in pig production since clover is rich in phytoestrogens.

Dairy farming in Uganda provides a source of food, employment and income. Previous studies have revealed high frequencies of bovine mastitis, a costly disease for the dairy farmer. The aims of this study were to investigate the bacteriological panorama in milk from udder quarters with clinical (CM) and subclinical mastitis (SCM) and to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility in staphylococcal isolates. Further, we intended to establish the prevalence of subclinical mastitis and to investigate some environmental factors and animal properties that might influence the frequency of mastitis. For CM, farmers made contact with the members of this study when recognizing an animal with CM.

It becomes more important to consider different behaviour traits in the selection for dairy cows to be suitable in the production systems of today. The purpose of this investigation was to study the genetic background to behavioural traits and the heritabilities for temperament, rank order, aggressiveness, feeding behaviour and for learning behaviour. Moreover, the genetic correlations to other traits were studied. To be included in a breeding programme a trait needs to have enough genetic variation, a moderate to high heritability or to be correlated to another measurable trait. Behaviour is a quantitative trait affected by many genes and the environment.