Costs of maintenance on agriculture machines is something that many farmers has a low knowledge of, it can depend on low interest or that the farmer don?t have enough time. To make it easier for the farmers they can use many computer programs which are available on the market. In this program they can calculate their costs of maintaince on their agriculture machines, for example STANK and JTI machine calculation program. Most of this program is using Svensson (1987) costs model whish was made in Sweden in the middle of 80 decade in a large study.

The purpose of this work was to see if it was possible to rebuild an old dairy house into a house fore sheep production. The goals fore the work was to see witch kind of production model was suitable, how the actual drawing would look like and witch kind of interior was needed. The building was built in the beginning of 1900. It is located on the mountain Kinnekulle in Sweden. It was a big production fore its time and hade about 60 dairy cows. It was a lot of hard work because the floor was built by big stone blocks and it was very hard to rebuild when some more automatic solutions came fore handling all the manure. The idea of remaking the building came when we rebuilt the roof fore 5 years ago.

A totally mixed ration (TMR) is a mixture of all the necessary feed components for the cow. She will eat the exact same feed in every bite which will make the rumen pH more stable and always supply her with a constant proportion between roughage and concentrate. This will make it possible for the cow to eat more dry matter (DM) a day because the fibre requirements are fulfilled. If a part of the concentrate is given separated from the mixture it is called partly mixed rations (PMR) and is almost always used when using an automatic milking system (AMS). When using TMR and PMR it is important to have a high hygiene, be accurate when mixing the feed and to look after cows in a good and strict way. The aim of this study was to document different farms with PMR in an AMS to see which routines they have and how they are managing their production.

Feed costs constitute a large part of the expenses of Dairy farmers. Pasture is a high quality feed with a low cost. However, feeding with concentrates has been shown to enhance milk yield (Leaver, 1985; Bargo et al., 2003; Stockdale, 2004). The purpose with this study was to investigate how milk yield and milk composition were affected as the concentrate proportion in the diet decreased. Pasture behaviour was examined to see if the different concentrate levels affected the time cows spent grazing and ruminating.

Peat litter is a soft material with high absorbency. About hundred years ago many farmers in Sweden used peat litter to their dairy cows. After the World War II the use of peat litter decreased and the farmers used more straw. Nowadays (year 2007), when it is harder to find straw and sawdust to buy, peat litter is advancing again. The purpose with this study is to investigate peat as a litter to dairy cows.

AbstractAn approaching overproduction of cereals and a future uncertain supply of non genetic modified vegetable protein feedstuffs have increased the interest in an expansion of the domestic production of protein feedstuffs in Norway. Besides rapeseed (Brassica campestris), peas (Pisum sativum) may be the most suitable crop for this purpose. Peas are characterized by having a relatively high content of crude protein, ranging between 20-26%, a high content of starch, 42-51%, and a low content of fat. In general, the energy value for peas is higher than for barley but lower than for rapeseed and soybean meal.Pea protein consists of albumins and globulins to 85-100%, which leads to the fact that a large part of the pea protein is soluble and degradable in the rumen. Starch in peas is on the other hand to a large extent resistant to rumen degradation compared to starch from other starch rich feedstuffs.

In Sweden regulations stipulates that dairy cows are kept on pasture, or given the opportunity to spend time outside during a coherent period of between two to four months, depending on region. The transition out to pasture is a big change from the winter period in the stable, especially for the modern high yielding dairy cows. The let out to pasture includes a change in feed, environment, and new routines. There are indications that the milk somatic cell count (SCC) rises in a peak shortly after the let out. The purpose of this study was to see if peaks in the SCC could be observed after the let out, and to study the contribution of inflammatory cells (neutrophils) and if the milk composition are affected. The study included 35 cows that were kept in stable during the winter.

In Automatic Milking Systems (AMS), cows are kept in a free stall barn equipped with one or several milking units (MU). The cows? activities in the system are called cow traffic. There are three types of cow traffic systems: guided, partly-guided and free. Free systems have no gates, allowing the cows access to the feeding and resting areas at any time.

This report is a literature review that aims to describe marketing contexts for mango production in Kenya. The institutional conditions in the country are not well developed for marketing purposes, which causes many difficulties and problems for the society. In Kenya most mango producers are poor small-scale farmers with limited resources. Mango is a perishable commodity and to keep its value and quality it is essential to have the opportunity to sell the mangos in the right time. Inefficient and undeveloped infrastructure and marketing systems hinders the mangos to reach the market in time though, which causes large losses of produce.The Kenyan mango production has increased during the last decade but due to market losses for the producer, the small-scale farmers? profits have not improved.

Deregulation on the market for agricultural products leads to a more globalised market with increasing price fluctuations. This, in turn, places the farmer in positions influenced by new risks but also improved opportunities. The farmers are faced by uncertainty in terms of financial outcome. To be able to utilise these new market conditions it becomes increasingly important for farmers to continuously follow the price trend, and to develop strategies how to manage the risks exposed by a volatile market. Farmers with different conditions perceive risk in different ways. Hence, their risk management behaviour will vary.

Animal welfare can be measured in several different ways; for example by using animal-based measurements. It has been shown that register data from the Swedish Official Milk Recording Scheme can be helpful when identifying herds at risk of having poor animal welfare, which led to a development of the advisory service of ?Ask the Cow? and the web report ?Animal Welfare Signals?. The aim of this project was to find out if register data from ?Animal Welfare Signals? can be used as a screening tool for detecting herds at risk of having poor animal welfare and in need of an ?Ask the Cow?.

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.

Sustainability Reporting has emerged and transformed over the past decades as a voluntary practice by companies across industries that desire to show proof of good conduct and environmental; social; and economic responsibility. As industrial food production is one of the largest contributors to contemporary environmental problems, it might be expected that reporting within the industry would be both well established and well understood. Unfortunately, it is neither. In light of the food industry?s considerable environmental impact and the growing popularity of plant-based food as a more sustainable alternative to dairy products, this paper assesses and briefly discusses the Sustainability Reporting of two companies in the plant-based food and beverage industry. The research was designed to compare the practices of Europe-based Alpro and US-based SoDelicious, and this study has two major purposes: to describe the reporting of the case companies and to subsequently compare their practices to the other as well as to global reporting standards. The empirical study in this paper was conducted through content analysis.

Oilseed rape constitutes a good break crop within a cereal dominated cropping system. The normal sowing time for winter rape in Sweden is August. It's a time in the cropping year characterized by a heavy work load, such as harvest and soil management. In addition, it is often a period with large precipitation. Thus, it is sometimes problematic for the farmer to do the sowing of winter rape at the optimal time.

The intrest and development of bioenergy and energy from renewable sources in Sweden has increased rapidly over the last few years. There are a whole lot of alternatives for those who would like to venture and invest in renewable energy production. Production of renewable energy opens up many opportunities for forestry and farming to venture a new branch of production, on basis of the primary production. Several of the new energy sources grows on farmland or in the forest. The opportunities exist in the primary products, as well as in refining and reselling, in the value chain of energy. The starting-point is the Farmer as an energyproducer. This master thesis studies the nature of farmer-own firms, who has invested in production of renewable energy.