To succeed, and make money at your animal production you need to feed your animals with high quality fodder. Other condition to succeed is that you keep your production costs at a minimum. To be able to produce baled silage at a low cost it?s very important that the bales have a high density. Density is measured in kg dry matter (DM) per cubic meter. The purpose with this report was to learn more about making silage in round bales and to how much the bale density varies between different brands of round balers.

In Sweden, there has been a continuous increase in the volume of housing construction for dairy cattle. Since 2004, the number of new, rebuilt and extended dairy cow houses undergoing preliminary inspection by the authorities has grown. The livestock farms have mostly focused on cow units instead of calf and heifer sheds; which has led to a need for information in this area. The purpose of the study was to improve advisors? knowledge about bovine building construction and function; to enable them to provide more qualified advice to conventional and organic milk producers who sustain larger herds.

AbstractMycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi. Moulds producing mycotoxins grow on various crops that are used as horse feeds. Since the treatments of mycotoxin poisoned horses are limited it is important to prevent production of mycotoxins in feed. The major mycotoxin producing moulds in horse feeds are Fusarium spp., Penicillium spp. and Aspergillus spp.

Energy is an essential part of the society and for a sustainable future we need to use the energy resources in a sustainable way. The forest is Sweden?s most important resource for renewable energy and a higher production combined with shorter rotation periods (time from planting to clear cutting) can increase the access to energy. The tree genus poplar (Populus spp.) is interesting as energy resource as it has both high production and short rotation period. But browsing ungulates are a major threat to the establishment of poplar plants and therefore the poplar plantations need to be fenced in today. To use fences is expensive and time consuming; this makes it interesting to find more cost-effective solutions where there is no need to fence. The aim with this study was to look at the ungulates? occupation rate and browsing pressure in poplar plantations without fence.

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 Swedish Welfare Act § 4 says that "Animals must be kept and cared for in a good environment for animals and in such a way that promotes their health and allow them to behave naturally." Pigs in the wild spend 80% of their waking hours walking around and rooting for food, eating and exploring their environment with its snout. Fattening pigs in commercial farms spend 80% lying doing nothing. A lactating sow is lying down most of her day, and only 10-20% of the body surface is in contact with the floor, so the pressure is high on these spots. Piglets lie down and paddle with their legs, with high liquid content in the tissues, several times an hour, to stimulate and massage the sow's udder. In the existing system, these individuals are held more often on floors that are anything but inviting to sleep on.

Uganda är ett utvecklingsland i östra Afrika. Landet har närmare 36 miljoner invånare och populationen är den fjärde snabbaste växande i världen. Det är ett underutvecklat land som är hårt drabbat av fattigdom och HIV/AIDS. Jordbrukssektorn är en av landets viktigaste inkomstkällor och även den största arbetsgivaren. Jordbruket gynnas av klimatet och landets bördiga jordar, men är underutvecklat och saknar moderna jordbrukstekniker.

AbstractMycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi. Moulds producing mycotoxins grow on various crops that are used as horse feeds. Since the treatments of mycotoxin poisoned horses are limited it is important to prevent production of mycotoxins in feed. The major mycotoxin producing moulds in horse feeds are Fusarium spp., Penicillium spp. and Aspergillus spp.

Sheep production is the only animal production in Sweden that is increasing. Therefore,increasing knowledge of the production is of great interest. In order to run a viable sheepproduction, producers needs to be successful in the breeding of the animals and achievean economic surplus in the end. Lambs that are born healthy and vital have greaterconditions to perform high lamb weight gains and thus a successful production. Thereare many factors affect the survival, birth weight and early weight gain of the new bornlamb.

Swedish farmers have the possibility to be subsidized by EU rural development programme for grazing animals on pastures to promote the biodiversity of flora and fauna. The environmental remedy sometimes does not allow supplementary feed and at the same time the Swedish Animal Welfare Act and the Swedish Agricultural Board?s regulations for animal welfare and protection states that animals, in this case horses, shall be fed with food of good quality and adapted for the species. The regulations also state that they should have an individual feeding regime that enables them to maintain a normal body condition. The aim with this master thesis has been to investigate if it is possible to keep Gotland ponies on extensive pastures, during late spring and summer and still maintain animal welfare. The horses were assessed every fourth week using a welfare assessment protocol developed in line with the Welfare Quality® project (submitted, Viksten et al) where physical, behavioural and resourcebased parameters were observed. Twelve one-year old stallions of the breed Gotland ponies purchased from different breeders were used in the study.

Sheep production is the only animal production in Sweden that is increasing. Therefore,increasing knowledge of the production is of great interest. In order to run a viable sheepproduction, producers needs to be successful in the breeding of the animals and achievean economic surplus in the end. Lambs that are born healthy and vital have greaterconditions to perform high lamb weight gains and thus a successful production. Thereare many factors affect the survival, birth weight and early weight gain of the new bornlamb.

Cattle used for meat production can be held outside all year round and due to the legislation they should have access to shelters or other buildings for protection against the elements giving them a dry and clean bedding. There are different opinions concerning their need of protection and the question about necessity of shelters for cattle is of current interest due to a less profitable economy in meat production and the investment costs for shelters. The aim of this study was to acquire more knowledge about the natural behaviour of cattle concerning their use of shelters. The basis of the study was a series of questions regarding when animals choose to stay in shelters, if shelters were used less when they had access to protecting vegetation, how temperature and weather conditions affected the use of shelters and the influence of distance between shelter and feed. Behavioural studies was conducted at five different farms where six groups of suckler cows and heifers of following breeds and crossbreeds were observed; Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Scottish Highland Cattle, Simmental and the Swedish breeds SKB and SRB.

Urbaniseringen i Kampala växer snabbare än den ekonomiska tillväxten, vilket skapar en stor grupp människor med så svag köpkraft att de inte kan köpa mat för dagen. En lösning på problemet är att odla sin egen mat, men med de begränsade landarealer som en växande befolkning leder till, finns det inte tillräckligt med mark att odla eller bedriva extensiv boskapsproduktion. Bönderna tvingas därför att utfodra djuren med de biprodukter som genereras från hushållet och från den lokala marknaden. Uganda är en av världens främsta bananproducenter, där den större delen av produktionen går till landets egna humankonsumtion, vilken i sin tur genererar enorma kvantiteter bananskal varje år. Bananskalen säljs på de lokala marknaderna och utgör en billig foderkälla till framförallt idisslare för Ugandas bönder.

Fossil fuels are affecting our climate negatively and there is a limited amount of them in the world, which leads to the importance of finding alternative fuels. One alternative is biogas, which is produced though a digestion process of different organic materials in a biogasreactor. Organic substrate that comes from farms has the biggest potential to increase the production of biogas in Sweden. Primarily crops from farms, but also waste products like manure are of great importance.Today there is a calculated theoretical potential for biogasproduction of 14TWh per year, which is around ten times larger than Sweden?s production today.

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.