Knowledge about feed racks for feeding forages to horses is lacking. Racks for sheep and cows are sometimes used for horses. Feeding roughage on the ground, or feeding silage bales with the plastic and net still on, can bring on a lot of different problems. The opportunity to control the hygienic quality is small and feed losses can be high. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate how the eating behaviour and consumption of horses were influenced by feeding racks of different constructions. Feed losses and changes in chemical composition of the forage were also studied.

The purpose with the study was to find a pattern in the behaviour of dairy cows which could be related to their social rank. A behavioural study was conducted at the University Cattle Research Centre (Kungsängen) in Uppsala, Sweden. The study included 12 lactating dairy cows, 6 high ranked and 6 low ranked. The cows were housed in a loose housing barn with an automatic milking system (AMS) to which they had access 24 hours a day. During the experiment the total number of cows in the barn was 46.

Beef production in Sweden has traditionally been about rearing of dairy calves to slaughter. With reduced number of dairy cows and accordingly less dairy calves for slaughter, there has been a need for new forms of beef production in Sweden. In Västerbotten there are good conditions for beef production with a high feeding level of roughage due to favourable climate. The aim of this thesis is to, through interviews with ten farmers with beef production in Västerbotten, study what and with how much they feed their animals and link the results to production level. The thesis begins with a literature review where the general feeding standards and feeding recommendations for beef cows and growing cattle are examined.

The aim of this paper was to explain protein degradation in silage and protein quality and biogenic amines in silage and their effects on the health of the dairy cows. After harvest-ing, the plant proteases degrade the proteins in the plant. The protein degrades to different fractions with different digestibilites in the rumen. Fraction A contains non- protein nitro-gen which is peptides, free amino acids and amines. True protein is in the fraction B and is further divided into three subfractions depending on their solubility.

When facing the fact that high yielding dairy cows has an increasing energy requirements, the practice of adding lipid supplements such as concentrates rich in palm oil and/or palm oil industry by-products become more common. Palm oil containing high levels of C16:0 causes high levels of free fatty acids (FFA) which are linked to larger milk fat globules (MFG) which affect the reaction of lipolysis resulting in rancid flavour and processing problems. Instead of using palm oil, rapeseed oil rich in C18:1 C18:2 can be used. In order to evaluate the effect of added C18:0 and C16:0 on milk lipolysis, 30 Swedish Red lactating dairy cows including 15 multiparous (MP) and 15 primiparous (PP) cows were randomly divided in three groups resulting in 3 10 cow-groups (5 PP and 5 MP cows per group) and fed one out of three concentrate mixtures: control (C), a standard concentrate mixture with no fat added; palmitate (P) as C plus the addition of palmitate methyl ester (10 % in DM basis); and stearate (St) as C plus the addition of stearate methyl ester (10 % in DM basis). Milk yield was registered, and milk samples were collected and analysed for milk composition, FFA content and size of MFG.

Soft rubber flooring have gained in popularity over the last years. Rubber flooring al-lows cow to move more freely without slipping and improves claw and leg health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of a stepwise introduktion of soft flooring on cow`s placement in cow houses with robotic milking. A case study was carried out in a herd in northern Sweden with 41 cows. Observations were made every 15 minutes between 09.00 and 16.00 concering cow placement in cu-bicles, in cubicle alley, in feeding alley and in feeding alley with the head through feed-ing gate. One observation period was carried out per flooring alternativ: 1) all concrete slatted floor, 2) rubber slatted floor in feeding alley and concrete slatted floor in cubicle alley and 3) rubber slatted floors in feeding alley and solid rubber floors in cubicle alley. The study showed that 6 %-units fewer cows lay in the cubicles when the feeding alley surface was slatted rubber.

In this dissertation I have tried to figure out if it possible to make any money on acid grain to Feed cows through a case study. The method is a case study combined with a documentary research. At present the farm sell all grain in connection with harvest and buy it back continuously in the neighbourhood, I have compared that with an alternative where I invest in a construction for to store acid grain on the current farm. I have delimit me to only have a look on acid grain because I think that is one of the cheapest way too store grain in smaller aplenty. Before beginning with acid grain is it important to be versed in how everything works and the risk to keep on with acid grain. One disadvantage is that the acid grain is not possible to store more than 12 months with out acid it once again. It is also easy to get mould in the pasture if it is not acid enough.

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..

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.

The coproduct, dried distillers grains + solubles (DDGS) from ethanol production based on wheat contains much rumen degradable protein and fiber with low digestibility. To compliment this quality in an effective way a grass silage low in protein and much digestible fiber is needed. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of adjusting the crude-protein concentration and fiber quality of the silage when feeding DDGS and of varying the inclusion level of DDGS, when feeding the adjusted grass silage, on intake, milk yield and composition, faecal traits and feed efficiency. Four different total mixed rations were compared. The normal grass-clover silage had a crude protein content of 17,8 % and an NDF content of 46,2 % of dry matter. The adapted grass silage had a crude protein content of 14,6 % and an NDF content of 52,9 % of dry matter. The diets were formulated to have similar nutritional content except for A + 4 which had a higher content of rumen degradable crude protein and a lower concentration of NDF.

The Swedish Animal Welfare Act say that all milking cows must have access to pasture in summer time. That was a gift to Astrid Lindgren o her 80th birthday from the Swedish Government. Sweden is a predecessor in animal welfare, but how well do we live up to these big expectations? In this thesis I will examine how well the pasture for milking cows works. I have been interviewing farmers with milking cows and people in the business. I have also been searching information on Internet, and using the library of Alnarp. Cows that are kept on pasture are exposed to different kind of parasites, but on the other hand they run a smaller risk to getting acetonemi, pareses and udder infection. Veterinary Pierre Nordmark means that cows on pasture are more healthy then cows kept inside all summer.

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.

Compared with a few years ago, the cost of concentrates has increased substantially and because of that an increased proportion of pasture is of interest. Pasture is cheap and the farmer does not have to harvest when the cows do it themselves by grazing. This saves both money and time. According to research milk yield decrease with an increasing proportion of pasture in the diet. This is because cows on pasture will have lower dry matter intake than cows with supplements.

The feed is a major cost in the dairy production and there is a constant interest in findingalternative cost-effective feedstuffs. Competitive dairy producers have to seek ways todecrease their production costs and the pursuit of cost-effective feed rations contributesto lower costs of production. An interesting group of protein concentrates are rapeseedproducts like ExPro (heat treated rapeseed) which have during the autumn 2008 andspring 2009 been very favourable compared to other protein feeds.This study focuses on the feedstuff products ExPro and Raps-Drank 60/40 (rapeseeddistillersgrain). The potential use of ExPro in dairy cow feed rations are also explored.ExPro is a well known feedstuff but Raps-Drank 60/40 is a relatively new product andnot known for many farmers.A field study on the use of rapeseed products was made on a limited number of dairyfarms. The main purpose was to study the management of the feedstuffs on the farms.The Farms were selected in cooperation with two local extension services.

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.