Ultrasound is a diagnostic aid often overlooked by the veterinary practicioner who works with farm-animals. However, it?s use increases, particulary for breeders where ultrasound has long been used to evaluate ovaries and to diagnose pregnancy or disturbances in reproduction. There is much knowledge in how to examine ovaries and uterus by transrectal ultrasound, but when it comes to doing ultrasound of other organs in the abdomen the knowledge is more limited. Cows are very large animals, so it is not possible to examine everything inside the abdomen with ultrasound, simply because the ultrasound beam has a limited penetration. There is also lots of gas inside the gastro-intestinal tract of a cow, mainly in the large intestine and the rumen, and that makes it impossible to examine the organs behind the gas since the ultrasound waves are reflected when reaching the soft tissue-gas interface.

Infection with intestinal parasites can in many cases be the reason for decreased performance or production. The gastro-intestinal nematode, Ostertagia ostertagi, and the lungworm, Dictyocaulus viviparus, are the most pathogenic nematodes of Cattle and severe infection can lead to death. They have both a direct lifecycle and on the pasture the parasites spread as freeliving worms. The parasites are mainly a problem for the first season grazers. They have not developed immunity against the parasites and are therefor more sensitive to parasite infections.

The purpose of this literature study was to investigate the possibilities to improve longevity and stayability of beef Cattle with breeding. The breeding goal for beef breeds is to produce animals with high capacity for growth and good feed efficiency. Longevity and sustainability are two important features to include in the breeding goal. If longevity is increased each cow can produce more calves and the number of female calves used for recruitment can be reduced and only the best heifers need to be selected for breeding. The benefits of longer life is that it lowers the costs of recruitment animals, it increases the number of young animals that become available for slaughter, and it increases the proportion of high producing animals in the herds.

Med dagens växande besättningar är det svårare att upptäcka brunst hos mjölkkor genom visuell observation. Detta leder till ekonomiska förluster, minskat genetiskt framsteg, högre inkalvningsålder och längre kalvningsintervall. För att underlätta brunstregistrering i besättningarna finns olika automatiska registreringar som kan upptäcka fysiologiska eller beteendemässiga förändringar som framträder hos kon vid brunst. Denna litteraturstudie sammanställer tre olika principer för brunstdetektering; visuell brunstdetektering, stegräknare och bestigningsdetektor, som kan vara antingen elektronisk eller manuell. Resultatet visar att stegräknare är den metod som upptäcker flest brunstperioder medan visuell observation ger minst felaktigt detekterade brunstperioder.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether urea could be an option as a nitrogen source for young Cattle, the study was limited to risks related to feeding, growth and feed efficiency. Microbes in ruminants have the ability to convert nitrogen to protein, this has been highlighted by beef producers as they are in search of cheap protein feed resources. Urea can be a worthy source of nitrogen for growing young animals, because of its high nitrogen content and the low price. Studies have shown that the replacement of a portion of the total protein content by urea in diets with low content of crude protein, like corn silage, may improve animal growth and feed efficiency. Replacement of all the true protein with urea can result in reduced feed intake and microbial growth.

The Swedish wolf population is like continue to grow and this will eventually lead to an increase in the predation of livestock. In Sweden carnivore attacks happen most frequent on sheep farms and the majority of these attacks are performed by wolves. Because of this, the main focus in this study is on the sheep and wolf problematic. It is not only the direct killing of livestock that affects the animals and their owners in a negative way. It has also been shown that livestock that lives close to carnivores sometimes change their behaviour in a way that will affect their ability to reproduce and to forage efficiently.

ABSTRACT There is present a lot of focus on animal welfare issues during transport and the related loading and unloading of animals. This thesis is a field study investigating the present situation of beef and dairy farms in Sweden. The predominant reasons stressing Cattle when transported to abattoirs are when they are loaded and unloaded on the trucks. The aim of this thesis is to improve the handling and the loading facilities to facilitate the handling and reduce the stress for the animals as well as the personnel. The field study was done by travelling together with the transports from the farm to the abattoir in Uppsala. Three trucks where used and about 60 farms were visited January to March 2003.

With the increasing costs in concentrate the importance in producing ensilage with a high quality is becoming more and more important. To succeed with this goal it is of importance not only to harvest in the right period, but also to be able to store the ensilage without a decrease in quality and nutrional values. To maintain a good ensilage the covering of the ensilage must be carefully made. An unsuccessful covering causes mould to grow in the ensilage, which both increases the work load and also increases the amount of feed which is wasted. A bigger amount of spoiled feed also increases the risk of feeding spoiled feed to the Cattle.

The term euthanasia is derived from the Greek terms eu meaning good and thanatos meaning death, "good death". The penetrating captive bolt is an effective method of euthanasia, when use of drugs is inappropriate. The horse becomes immediately unconscious and falls to the ground. First after the blood is emptied from the body the horse is dead. The use of injectable euthanasia agents is a rapid and reliable method of performing euthanasia. The aim is to stop the flow of oxygenated blood to vital organs and tissues. The muscle relaxants may be used either in combination wih or following an anaesthetic dose of barbiturate, their use use as a sole agent is totally inhumane.

Cattle have a species specific movement pattern when lying down and getting up. They need sufficient space for their heads to perform these movements normally. The aim of this study was to investigate the lying down and getting up behaviour of beef bulls at a Swedish farm operation. The hypothesis was that bulls older than 10 months (over approximately 400 kg) were disturbed by a horizontal front rail and that the time to lie down and get up differed from what can be regarded as normal based on earlier scientific studies. The bulls were Swedish Red and White (SRB), Swedish Friesian (SLB) or crossbreeds of these two, and were kept in a cubicle system with a stall front design where there was a horizontal rail 40 cm above the stall floor.

Deep litter is a system for animals kept in separate stalls, loafing and bedding in wind shelters. The litter can consist of different bedding, like straw and peat. The system is allowed to build over and to ensure optimal proportions it is necessary to add new straw regularly and to have good conditions. Important conditions are aerobic state, humidity, amount of organic substance and acceptable temperatures in the litter. The micro organisms are depending on temperature for their living conditions and to get the bottom layer in the litter to start burning.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) meloxicam in connection with dehorning of goat kids. Six 2-3,5 weeks old dehorned kids were given daily intramuscular injections of meloxicam (0,5 mg/kg; MG) and five age-matched dehorned kids were given isotonic NaCl (NG) for 3 days. The study was randomized and double blinded. The behavior of the kids was studied one day before dehorning, on the dehorning day and three days after. Blood samples were collected each day before the treatment and analyzed for plasma concentrations of meloxicam, hematocrit, cortisol, progesterone and glucose.

Cambodia, in Southeast Asia, has tropical monsoonal climate with distinct dry and rain seasons. Many people are poor and live in rural areas. Farmers mainly culture rice, and raise pigs, Cattle and poultry as well. During two months, a minor field study was performed in Cambodia. The main purpose was to evaluate the impact of contributions done by projects that started in 2005 and were managed by the local organization CelAgrid.

AbstractHow do we remember? What do we remember? How does the memory change over time? These are the main questions in this essay.Five persons, who have lived or are still living in the old parish Rystad, situated seven kilometers from the town Linkoping south of Lake Roxen, have participated in interviews. They have been given the possibility to present their oral history which has been recorded and later transmitted to texture. The participants represent different social backgrounds and professions and they were born between the years 1920 ? 1936.

Automatic rumination measuring can be applied as a health indicator in dairy farming but is also highly desirable for research purposes. This study aimed to validate the technical functionality of the product RuminActTM, which employ acoustics to monitor rumination duration. The time budget of high yielding cows was studied and possible differences in rumination time between 13 rations were interpreted. Further the study examined what affects daily rumination and rumination efficiency. The validation was performed with direct observations that were compared to the automatically recorded rumination durations.