The aim of this literature study was to analyze how milk urea concentration is working as a measure of the nitrogen supply to rumen microbes and indicator of the environmental load. Questions included in this literature study were how to improve the dairy cattle nitrogen efficiency and what correlations there are between milk urea, nitrogen efficiency and crude protein content in the feed. Effects on the reproduction from high ration protein content are also addressed. Dairy cattle are today fed with large proportions of protein which could lead to high expenditure of feed and environmental pollutions. The nitrogen can be lost to the environment by different pathways; leaching, denitrification or by emission to the air.

The aim of this literature study was to analyze how milk urea concentration is working as a measure of the nitrogen supply to rumen microbes and indicator of the environmental load. Questions included in this literature study were how to improve the dairy cattle nitrogen efficiency and what correlations there are between milk urea, nitrogen efficiency and crude protein content in the feed. Effects on the reproduction from high ration protein content are also addressed. Dairy cattle are today fed with large proportions of protein which could lead to high expenditure of feed and environmental pollutions. The nitrogen can be lost to the environment by different pathways; leaching, denitrification or by emission to the air.

Sleep is a vital part of life. Even so a lot of the mechanics regarding sleep is unknown. The dairy cattle of today live a stressful life, as their high milk yields forces them to eat large amounts of feed and spend a great portion of the day ruminating. Do they have time to get enough sleep? Which factors affecting the need of sleep in dairy cattle are largely un-known.

Major changes within the agricultural politics today have forced the dairy production to scaleup, in order to compete on a global market. This has resulted in a reduction in the number ofsmaller dairy farms in Sweden, from about 40000 to just over 4000 over the last 30 years. Thepurpose of this study Svenska mjölkbönder, snart ett minne blott? ? Markbygdensmjölkbönder i tankar om mjölkproduktionens nuvarande situation och framtidsutsikter, is topresent the opinions of Dairy farmers in Sweden, regarding the Swedish dairy industry and therelation to their own dairy production. A secondary purpose is to problematize how theconsequences of pastures and cultural landscapes influences human society as dairy farms andgrazing animals are becoming fewer.

 AbstractThis study is performed by studying seven livestock businesses in the agricultural sector. The focus of the essay has been put on the structures that limit and enable the lives of the farmers in this study. One of these major structures that affect everyday life is the gender structure and to this day the housewife role exists where the women are responsible for the home, family and domestic pets while the men are responsible for the production, machinery and the heavier tasks on the farm. This is grounded in the history and the development that agriculture has gone through, but also in the strong patriarchal power structure that exists in this industry. In this essay I also show how the life form analysis of Liselotte Jakobsen and the independent life form can not be fully applied to the farmer as he is not completely independent in his work.

To turn the dairy heifers out on pasture is the most natural way for the cattle to get feed. At the same time it is cheap and if it is right treated a feed of high nutritive value. The problem today is to get dairy heifers to grow enough when they are grazing at natural pasture for the entire summer. Therefore, the opinions differ whether pasture is a resource or a problem. The increasing interest of pasture production is due to the fact that you can receive grants for preserving valuable natural assets and cultural landscape elements in the pasture land. A high grazing pressure is necessary to preserve an open landscape and a great variety of species. In the same time the heifers have to supply their nutritive needs in order to grow and be large enough to show heat and be pregnant in right time to calve with a sufficient body size and at an economically right age. This paper includes a literature review on natural pasture, pasture production, and growth of dairy heifers together with own interviews with Dairy farmers about their point of view to the pasture husbandry on the farms, how they plan for pasture, look after natural pasture, treatment areas and take care of the calves and heifers. The results indicate that the time it takes and the demanded work are the biggest factors to how and why the farmers do as they do..

Subclinical mastitis (SCM) is a well-known problem in the dairy sector, where it causes severe economic losses mainly due to reduced milk production. This is a problem not only in the western world but also in developing countries. Surveys from different developing countries have shown a SCM prevalence of 52.4 ? 88.6 % at cow level and 26.7 ? 63.2 % at quarter-level. To combat mastitis is important to optimize the milk production of the cow.

Good feeding practices are a basic aspect of good calf health. During the calf's first few months the calf is fed with purchased milk replacer or raw milk straight from the cow. On all farms, it will be a surplus of milk that may not be delivered to the dairy for various reasons. Milk that may not be supplied to the dairy includes colostrum and milk with unnormal properties, including milk from cows suffering from mastitis. This study investigated the possibility of improving the milk by pasteurization in order to secure its use as feed for calves and thereby obtain an improved calf health.

Higher demands of competitiveness and efficiency have led to increasing sizes of farms, with more land, more capital and more comprehensive logistics. The aim is to gain benefits of scale economies that reduce the production cost per unit. However, a greater extent of the business exposes the farm of increased risk where small deviations rapidly can erase the benefits. A modern dairy farm thus put high demands on the farmer?s ability to coordinate, plan and manage the forage production through the whole process until storage to obtain silage of the desired quality and quantity at the right price. The objective of this study was to design a simple model, i.e.

Time studies in dairy production are an essential tool when deciding about level of mechanisation and automatisation both in investment situation and improving efficiency in existing operations. In previous investigations such studies have been carried out during normal barn conditions during winter. Since there is a compulsory to have dairy cows grazing 3 to 5 months during summer time in Sweden time studies during this season is important to have a full picture of needed working time. During grazing season time studies was carried out at 14 dairy farms representing herd sizes from 66 to 450 dairy cows of which 6 farms with AMS. 8 farms were the same as studied during winter season.

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: Whole fat versus low-fat dairy products for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. A systematic review.Author: Josefine Lindqvist, Robin Järnmark, Mathilde OhlinSupervisor: Mette AxelsenExaminer: Anna WinkvistProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: 2014-04-09BackgroundResearch indicates that dairy products seems to have a protective impact on the incidence of cardiovascular disease regardless fat content. Paradoxically the Nordic nutrition recommendations recommend an exchange of full fat dairy product to low-fat dairy products.ObjectiveThe aim of this review is to investigate whether the variation in fat content of dairy products have any bearing on the onset of cardiovascular disease. With regard to common risk markers for cardiovascular disease the outcome measures hypertension, hyperlipidemia and weight gain is examined.Search strategyThe searches were made in the databases Medline (23/1-14) and Scopus (6/2-14).Selection criteriaRestrictions: Human Studies, Adults, Randomized Controlled Trials, English.Data collection and analysisTwo RCTs were included. Validation of the separate studies was performed with SBU's review template for individual studies and GRADE was used for summarizing the evidence of outcome measuresMain resultsThe two included studies examined the outcome measures blood pressure, weight and blood lipids.

The following essay is a descriptive and analyzing study in how the local Tanzanian NGO MVIWANYA works to disseminate sustainable agricultural technologies to the farmer households in Rorya District, Mara. It also presents and analyzes the reception and impacts these new technologies have on the households. Information was gathered during two weeks of field work at the organization in Tanzania. It was conducted empirically through interviews with and observations of small-scale farmer members of MVIWANYA and the staff of the organization. The gathered material is analyzed and presented with the help of a theoretical model designed by Birner et al.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cow-level association between acute hoof lesions and the somatic milk cell count in dairy cattle. Cows from three loose-housed Swedish dairy herds were enrolled in the study if they had an acute hoof lesion treated by a veterinarian or professional hoof trimmer during the preceding year, according to farmer records. Studied lesions were sole ulcer, dermatitis, interdigital necrobacillosis and hoof abscess, in each case causing lameness. For each hoof-diseased cow, 0 to 3 healthy cows were included, matched with respect to herd, breed, parity and lactation stage. Cell counts were obtained from monthly test recordings from one month before to three months after the hoof-lesion diagnosis, and log-transformed.

This master thesis is about the collaboration between the custom dairy heifer grower and thedairy producer.The custom dairy heifer grower is a rather unusual strategy of reproductive management inSweden compared to other countries like U.S. and Denmark where the specialization withindairy production gone much further. In these countries the research also has reached muchfurther within this type of industry. However in Sweden there has been research made in thearea of collaboration, but then only within collaborations in the industries of crop production,dairy production and pork meat.The down going trend of profitability within dairy production together with poor profitabilityin the beef industry could partly remedy if more collaborations around heifer contractingwould arise. But since the industry still is of a rare kind in Sweden the knowledge about howthese types of collaborative arrangements works and their contracts are put together is poor.By that the aim of this master thesis is formulated as follows: "how is usually thecollaborative arrangement between the dairy producer and custom dairy heifer growerdesigned".

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: Does low fat dairy products reduce blood pressure?Author: Emma Bergman and Naman LimaniSupervisor: Lena HulthénExaminer: Anna WinkvistProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: May 26, 2014Background: It is estimated that at least a third of the population in Sweden have a high blood pressure with genetics, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity as the main contributing causes. High blood pressure is one of the greatest risk factors to develop cardiovascular diseases, which is the leading cause of death worldwide. Milk is a nutritional food product and previous research suggests that low fat dairy products may have blood pressure lowering effect.Objective: The aim was to examine the scientific basis of how low fat dairy products affect blood pressure.Search strategy: Twelve searches were conducted on PubMed and Scopus, where the chosen search terms were combined to produce a broad search as possible in the particular area. The search terms used were dairy, dairy products, milk, blood pressure and hypertension.Selection criteria: Studies on normotensive or hypertensive individuals who received low fat dairy products were included.