In this essay I have summarized important factors for an effective, but also successful, way to raise and house heifers. This study can be used for other dairy Farms to use as guidelines in their process to raise heifers. To let outside heifer growers house, feed and have the heifers pregnant before return, can save a lot of work. But also moneywise, when the care and individual programs makes them strong and increases the growth.The result is a faster breeding and an earlier time for their first calving.In Sweden the heifers tend to be older if you compare with Denmark or United States where the custom heifer raising is well known and growing. One reason can be the Swedish laws regarding outside grassing for all cows during the summer months.

Sweden is considered to have one of the world's highest animal welfare standards in agriculture. Despite this, there are shortcomings in animal husbandry. One example is overcrowding, which is a way to increase stock size without making costly investments in the buildings. It can be carried out systematically to increase profitability or due to, for example uneven calving during the year. The European Commission criticizes the fact that stocking density is not controlled under Swedish welfare inspections.

Sweden is considered to have one of the world's highest animal welfare standards in agriculture. Despite this, there are shortcomings in animal husbandry. One example is overcrowding, which is a way to increase stock size without making costly investments in the buildings. It can be carried out systematically to increase profitability or due to, for example uneven calving during the year. The European Commission criticizes the fact that stocking density is not controlled under Swedish welfare inspections.

In this study we try to focus on the costs for wear parts on different type of soil tillage machines and at Väderstad Rapid drilling machine. We have studied some of the leading types of cultivators and disk harrows. Among the cultivators we have investigated Väderstad Cultus, Dalbo Dinkomax, Horsch Tiger and Terrano. At disk harrow we have looked at Amazone Catros and Väderstad Carrier. We have made more detailed study on costs for wear parts, working depth, driving speed and diesel consumption.

The Swedish government has proposed that 20 % of the cultivated land in Sweden should be organic by the year 2010 (The Swedish Board of Agriculture, 2008). In addition to this the production of organic food like milk, meat and egg should increase considerably. To reach the government?s goal it is necessary that the Swedish farmers get motivated to convert their production from conventional to organic. Milko is a dairy association that has chosen to focus on organic products, they want to be the leading organic dairy association, and therefore they have a large need for organic milk (Milko, 2008).

In the spring of 2006 a pilot project was initiated by The Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies of Sweden together with The Swedish Ornithological Society in order to increase collaboration between bird watchers and farmers. The project as a whole comprised 11 Farms in South-Central Sweden. The aim was to benefit the decreasing populations of bird species related to the agricultural landscape. The purpose of this master thesis was to study how similarities and differences between bird watchers and farmers regarding opinions about nature, landscape, agriculture, birds and nature conservation have influenced the collaboration. Four of the farmers and five of the bird watchers that participated in the project were included in this study.

Småskalig mjölkproduktion är ett system som främjar regelbundna inkomster och spelar en viktig roll för att minska fattigdomen, ger anställningsmöjligheter och skapar välfärd samt säkrar en näringsrik livsmedelsförsörjning. Det finns cirka 2500 småskaliga mjölkbönder i Zambia men deras kunskap om bra mjölkningsrutiner och hygien är ofta dåliga. Bra skötselrutiner och mjölkningshygien är viktigt för att uppnå en god juverhälsa och mjölkproduktion, och för att inte förorena mjölken. Subklinisk mastit är en vanlig sjukdom bland mjölkkor, som medför förändrad sammansättning av mjölken och minskad mjölkproduktion vilket orsakar stora ekonomiska förluster. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka skötselrutinerna, med fokus på mjölkningen, hos småskaliga mjölkbönder i tre olika områden i södra Zambia samt att undersöka om det fanns något samband mellan skötselfaktorerna och juverhälsan (subklinisk mastit).

In all types of learning situations, it is important to find each student where they are at the moment in knowledge. I have reflections about  what animal experience students have with them when they begin their education. This thesis is about what home environment and in home environment acquried animal experience student at agricultural college have. This work is based on data collected through questionnaire survey done in two agricultural colleges in middle Sweden in the spring of 2007. Questions were divided into four blocks, historical data such as on the environment in which pupils are growing up, animal habit, why they read on agricultural school and future data on what plans students have for future education and careers.

Indications on poor understanding for the animal producers situation from the inspectors of animal welfare control have been seen in papers from farmers interest organizations. The aim of this study was to investigate what farmers view is on the animal welfare inspections done by regional Swedish authorities as well as the animal welfare inspectors work. The study investigated whether or not there were any differences between different counties in Sweden. There were also questions asked to see what animal producers thought could change in the animal welfare inspectors work so it would benefit them. The study was conducted using a telephone interview questionnaire.

The Animal Protection Agency was in 2006, commissioned by the Government to: Evaluate how free range animals in the winter, can be kept and managed with special emphasis to animal welfare. The Animal Protection Agency was closed later in 2006 and the commission moved to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. The keeping of free range out wintered cattle, certain basic requirement are needed: by regulation, cattle should have access to a lying hall or other building that gives protection against aversive weather and wind and should offer a dry and clean lying area. There is a possibility for farmers that get an exemption from this regulation. But cases regarding Farms which have had difficulties for this exemption has led to a discussion about if the animals can get the same protection in the nature which is comparable to a lying- hall.

As for today, a large quantity of protein feeds is imported from other countries to be used in the Swedish dairy production. The main import is soya from Brazil. The soya-production in Brazil results in negative consequences for the natural environment in the area, and the long transport of the feeds requires a lot of energy. The organic dairy production in Sweden is, with the highest probability going to be forced to use 100 % organic feed to the cows in the year 2005, due to new EU-rules. These are some of the causes why there are reasons to look closer at the possibilities to feed Swedish cows with only Swedish feeds. In this study, I have looked at the KRAV-rules for organic feeding, where the goal is feeding with only KRAV-approved feeds.

The idea behind this project came from a feed study executed two years during the lambing season. Both years wool loss was experienced. Low temperature in combination with shearing was believed to cause the wool loss the first year, while protein deficiency was believed to be the cause the second year. In the literature many causes of wool loss are described; mechanical wear, telogen effluvium, bacterial dermatitis, external parasites, wool break, scrapie, genetic causes and nutritional deficiencies are some examples. The aim of this thesis was to study causes for wool loss and how common wool loss is in Swedish sheep herds.

Every year, the horse industry in Sweden is growing. Because of this growth, it wouldbe most beneficial for the people involved in the agricultural business in Sweden toimprove their horse skills.I have assembled a form that includes basic guidelines for professional horse care.History tells us that Swedish horses have had a huge impact on the agricultural business.Before the arrival of the tractor, the horse played a very important role for the farmer.Today, horses are kept primarily for pleasure, mostly as a hobby for non-professionalpeople. In Sweden, we are seeing the small horse Farms become more and morepopular, which is keeping the countryside open and alive.I feel it is very important to improve the knowledge among farmers and others who willwork in close proximity to horses. This will enable us to raise the standard of care ofhorses today and reduce the number of people who market themselves as professionalhorse specialists, even though they have no education or experience in the fieldIn this essay you will find information about the most common horse breeds in Sweden,including basic anatomy of the horse, feeding directions, hoof and dental care, commondiseases and their treatment. There is information relative to the safe transportation of ahorse as well as the rules pertaining to horses in traffic.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att sammanställa maskinkostnader för etableringsmetoderna plöjningsfritt och konventionellt. Vi vill även titta på hur stor kapacitet som behövs på maskinparken för den tänkta gården på 600 ha åker, detta för att hinna etablera grödan inom ett rimligt tidsspektra. Anledningen till att vi valt ett företag på 600 ha är att det är den areal tröskan klarar av att avverka inom rimlig tid. Det medför att vi måste ta en del hänsyn till lägligheten och hur mycket av tiden som är så kallat ?tjänligt väder?.

Manure evaluation has been suggested as a cheap, fast and easy method which can give information about the digestibility of the ration, the function of the rumen, where in the gastrointestinal tract the feed is digested and the health of the cow. An experiment was conducted to study how manure evaluation could be used as a management tool in Swedish Dairy farming. Manure was collected from cows on Kungsängen Research Station and from 9 other Farms. The manure samples were analysed for dry matter, ash, starch, pH-value and particle size (wet sieved). Also, the consistency of the manure was determined on a 5-point scale and the colour and smell were noticed. Penn State Forage Particle Separator was used for determining the particle size of the roughage.