Tolerance and resistance are two different defence mechanisms within the immune system that differ from each other in many ways: However it is not clear which of the two is the most advantageous in dairy production. Resistance is described as the ability to fight a pathogen in a host. Tolerance is, on the other hand, not aggressive to the pathogen per se, but rather protects the host and its tissues. Furthermore tolerance rather offsets the toxin from, for example, a parasite whilst resistance offsets the parasite itself. Resistance is however disease specific, which means breeding for a large number of diseases is needed in order to make resistance worth the cost for the host.

Automatic milking systems (AMS) are part of a growing trend in Sweden and the number of milk-producing farms is decreasing rapidly. One main reason for the AMS is its ability to facilitate work for the farmer. The effects of introduction prior to calving have not been documented earlier and farmers are not in agreement, however they seldom see a problem with the introduction. The aim of this report is to find differences between two groups of heifers, where one group is trained i.e. introduced to the AMS before calving and the other group is introduced after calving.

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.

Lyckebo farm is the original name of the four building big farm, where year 2000, the former farmer established Maglarp/ Lyckebo golfcourse on his land of culture. In 2007, new owners are approaching the Maglarps golfcourse with thoughts of expanding the business. A first step in that direction is to form the area of the entrance, the specific area the visitors are staying at before entering the actual golfcourse to play. The designproposal is inspired by the peasant garden history of southern Sweden during the nineteenth centuary. It also aims to satisfy the demands of function and usefullness of a golfcourse today.

Since feeding fodder crops to dairy cows is a heavy and time-consuming but often disregarded line of work, this study wishes to view the different possibilities that are currently available to decrease the time to feed and apply this knowledge on an existing farm. For this purpose, four farms have been studied due to what feeding systems that are currently used and how long time the feeding required. The occurring systems are either mobile, i.e. a feed mixer operated by a tractor witch feeds the cattle via a drivable fodder table, or a stationery mixer, i.e. an electrically powered mixer which fills an automatic feeder.

The Swedish cooperative Lantmännen Ekonomiska Förening has initiated a project labelled "Operation Blåljus" that includes an extensive program for closing down elevators. The number of elevators will be reduced from 92 to approximately 15 after harvest of 2007. The objective of Blåljus is to increase the price of grain with 10 öre/kg. A project has been initiated at the Lantmännen Grain division where the purpose is to provide the farmers with support in their decisions and practical advice how they can load a 35 ton grain truck on 30 minutes. The result from the project will serve as a support system to the farmer in his ambition to achieve cost efficient systems to load a truck with grain on the farm.

Dairy cows transform grass to milk with help from ruminal microorganisms that can digest indigestible fiber in their feed. The digestive system of the cow is adapted to a diet consisting of forage and disorders like acidosis, laminitis and abomasal displacement can occur if the feed contains too much starch. To achieve the highest production possible the cow has to be given a high amount of concentrate or grain as the difference in milk yield is significant, approximately 1000 kg energy corrected milk per cow and year between conventional and organic cows that are fed a lower versus a higher share of forage. If the cow shall be able to eat the same amount of energy from forage as from grain or concentrate the eating- and rumination time gets longer and she might not be able to eat enough, which will result in a lower milk yield and will make it harder for the cow to recover from the negative energy balance that originate from the beginning of the lactation. Fat and in a sense protein content differs also depending on if the cow is given a high or low share of forage..

Mountain holding in the 21st century ? difficulties and possibilities This study examines the difficulties and possibilities that mountain holding farmers have today. The following questions were considered: i) Who is cultivating mountain holdings today? ii) Which is the most important reason to keep animals there? iii) What kind of subsidies are most common? iv) What kinds of animals and what breeds are the most common? v) For how long period of time are the animals kept at the mountain holdings every season? vi) How are the fundamental regulations in the animal welfare law being followed, and are there any problems/conflicts in keeping animals at the mountain holdings? vii) What meaning do the animals have for the farmers and what are the farmer?s thoughts about the future? A survey based on these issues was sent out to 107 mountain holdings farmers with animals on grazing land, where 59 % submitted a response. The results showed that knowledge on how to keep animals at the mountain holdings was overall good.

In Kenya the Maasai pastoralists have based their livelihoods on dairy production and the production goal is to maintain a sufficient milk supply throughout the year. The pastoral dairy production has two vital characteristics; breeding and milking. Traditionally, breeding is the men?s responsibility, while milking is the duty of women. Depending on this partition of chores between men and women, they also have different management routines, ambitions and strategies regarding the milk production.

Cows are ruminants and they need fibers in their feed and sufficient eating time to function psychologically and physiologically. Many of our cows don?t get enough forage and too much concentrates, which given in the wrong way may cause health and behavior problems. Too much concentrates at once makes the pH in the rumen sink and this may cause decreased fiber utilization since the microbes in the rumen are negatively affected by this. The cow may also get serious problems such as laminitis and abomasal dislocation.

Feed intake in dairy cows is regulated by a variety of factors influencing hunger and satiety. One of the regulation systems includes the short chain fatty acids produced during feed degradation in the rumen. Starch can be digested either in the rumen where short chain fatty acids are produced or in the small intestine where glucose is the end product. Since glucose does not have the same effect on satiety that short chain fatty acids have, the site of starch digestion might be an important factor that affects feed intake and milk production. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of site of starch digestion on feeding behaviour (feed intake, consumption time, and eating frequency) and milk production. Because feeding behaviour is closely connected to the cows? environment, the study also included observations of behaviour. Three different feed rations were compared.

This essay is a study of the motives and driving forces affecting how a food producer looks at, and incorporates, an environmental-labeling and its impact on their organization and strategy. Driving forces and motivations is an important part of a business strategy and impacts its content and its expression. Sustainability can be part of the overall company strategy but could also define the entire company. This study has shown that the main motive for working with eco-labelling is a genuine interest in issues concerning sustainability. This creates an opportunity for the company to communicate their environmental policies to their customers. For a company that works proactive and innovative with sustainability and climate issues, the new climate framework does not mean any major organizational or strategic changes.When the framework is incorporated in the organization the farms need to be analyzed with a climate impact perspective. This essay shows that this process, together with tools developed to handle the framework, make change in the way Dairy farmers think and how they relate to their daily work..

 In 2009, the responsibility for animal welfare was moved from the local authorities at the municipality(kommunerna) to the County Administrative Board(länsstyrelsen). This was a result of many differences between the different municipalities in how they handled animal welfare. Shoulder lesions of sows are a matter of opinion and therefore, a complicated question. Sows suffer from shoulder lesions for many reasons: e.g. the amount of straw available.

This paper aims to, through a literature review, examine how to best design and adapt calf huts to meet the calf's physiological requirements and reduce the infection pressure for enteric and respiratory diseases. It illuminates how the calf relates to different temperatures and climate, which temperature control mechanisms it uses and its ability to perform these regulations, as well as providing a summary of the past decades´ research on the calf huts housing system. These two theory chapters, along with a concluding discussion, provide a better understanding of how to, especially in temperate climates, design the most suitable calf hut, which cater to the calf's both thermal comfort and physical health. The literature suggests that the calf's own temperature control works well to counteract the temperature outside the desired range, and that one of the most important factors rather is ventilation of a calf hut, which reduces moisture and pathogens. The conclusion of this paper is mainly that there is not an obvious way to place and construct a calf hutch and that most design principles contribute to both positive and negative effects simultaneously.

Under lång tid har hälsoarbetet bestått av insatser inom det patogena området som fokuserar på orsaker till ohälsa och sjukdom. Utifrån ett salutogent perspektiv söks istället hälsans ursprung. Perspektivet utgår från vilka faktorer som gör att människor mår bra och vidmakthåller hälsan trots omständigheter som bidrar till att de är eller har varit utsatta för potentiellt sjukdomsframkallande biologiska eller psykosociala faktorer. Syftet med studien var att studera lantbrukares upplevelse av hälsa, med avsikt att beskriva salutogena faktorer för hälsa som kan vara användbara i hälsofrämjande arbete. Datainsamlingen har skett genom en postenkät till 300 lantbrukare i Skåne.