The aim of this project was to quantify the total sleep time in modern dairy cows during24-hour periods and to investigate whether the total amount of sleep as well as timespent in different sleep stages varies between the dry period, early- and peak lactation.The distribution of sleep time between night and day was also examined. Furthermore,correlations between sleep and lying time, fluctuations in body temperature and heartbeat were included in the aim. Eight dairy cows of the Swedish Red breed were used inthis study, which was carried out between June and September 2010. In order toquantify sleep non-invasive electrophysiological recordings were performed.Simultaneously with collecting sleep data, body position and body temperature werealso recorded. No heart rate data was obtained due to difficulties of maintainingelectrodes for heart beat measurements attached to the skin.

The Effects of dietary biotin supplementation on hoof health in Swedish dairy cows - a controlled cohort field study. The aim of the present degree project was to investigate the effects of biotin supplementation on hoof health in dairy cows. The experiment was performed as a controlled cohort study in three commercial farms in western Sweden from January 2002 to October 2002. The cows were all housed in cubicle systems with transponder concentrate feeding systems. Within each farm the cows were allocated to either biotin or control treatment. The biotin groups received 20 mg of biotin per cow and day, starting 14 days before expected calving.

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.

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.

This thesis evaluates the environmental performance of six different fish farming systems. The thesis is part of the network group ?Hållbar fiskförsörjning I Stockholms län? (HFFS) which tries to increase the domestic and regional production of fish in Stockholm and move to a more sustainable supply in the Stockholm county. Two of the chosen systems; pangasius from Vietnam and salmon from Norway are delivering a substantial part of the fish consumed in Stockholm today, although they are very different when it comes to system characteristics. One system, arctic char with conventional feed, is produced in a fairly small scale in the north of Sweden, while the three remaining systems are viewed upon as possible options to supply Stockholm with fish in the future.

The ability of dairy cows to survive and the economic importance of this have been in-creasing in dairy cattle breeding lately. Increased longevity contribute to an increased pro-portion of cows that produce milk in more productive lactations and reduces the replace-ment costs together with a good health and fertility. Unfortunately it is often argued that longevity has been decreasing due to a strong selection for production traits in dairy cattle.The aims of this study were to find correlations between different longevity evaluations and between different estimates on longevity and other traits in the Nordic Total Merit (NTM) breeding value. The aim was also to compare different traits for cows of two differ-ent longevity groups.The data were Predicted Breeding Values (PBV) from Nordic HOL and SR bulls and records from Holstein (HOL) and Swedish Red (SR) cows estimated by the Swedish Dairy Association.The three Swedish longevity indexes were very highly correlated (>0.89) and the corre-lations between the Swedish official longevity index and the five Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation (NAV) longevity indexes varied between 0.73-0.83.In the sire evaluation part, the traits most negatively correlated with longevity for HOL were dairyness, protein and fat index. In SR, milk, protein, and fat index only had slightly positive correlations with longevity.

The aim of the study was to investigate feeding routines, management, health and level of activity of riding horses in Sweden. This was obtained by a survey requesting information from owners who kept horses at a non-professional level. Owners to approximately 500 horses were contacted and the usable response of the survey was 56 %. The dominating breed in the study was Swedish warmblood (38 %). Fiftytwo percent of the horses were geldings, 45 % were mares and 3 % were stallions.

The Swedish dairy production today consists of big farms and different housing systems are in use. These systems put demands on the cows? ability to cope with the environment and one challenge is the claw health in the herds. Some claw lesions that are frequently observed are foot rot, hemorrhages, digital dermatitis and sole ulcers, which can be caused by, for example, the claws? environment and the flooring type used.

During recent years the use of TMR (total mixed rations) has increased in Swedish lamb production. For many years TMR has been used for cattle and hence the information and knowledge is vast, while the knowledge concerning sheep and TMR is more limited. The aim of this thesis is to present an overview of the scientific knowledge on the subject, and also to compile practical experience from sheep farmers using TMR. The thesis begins with a literature review where different aspects relevant to the usage of TMR are dealt with. It is concluded that there are differences between sheep and cattle that must be taken into account.

Horses are made to eat mainly roughage and it is essential for optimal health to offer them an appropriate amount of roughage with good hygienic and nutritional qualities. To produce good hay at the right time and be able to keep the hygienic quality until next summer is a problem. This has the effect that horse owners today choose haylage and silage to a larger extent. Science in this area is scarce, i.e. if the change from hay to silage has any effect on the horse.

Escherichia (E) coli is one of the most common udder pathogens associated with acute clinical mastitis in Swedish dairy cows. The aim of this study is to review some of the existing literature on E coli mastitis from a Swedish perspective. The bacteria, its most important characteristics, and diagnostics under field conditions is covered, as well as what happens during infection, how E coli affects the cow and which consequences this have. Clinical symptoms associated with E coli mastitis are described and information on when these cases of mastitis usually occurs is given. Risk factors in the cow?s enviroment are described as well as the importance of the cow?s immune defence.

For the company to work well, it is necessary with a good economy, a high qualitative production and a well working system concerning the environment: the whole cycle on the farm needs to be working. At the same time, debaters about the environmental impacts are also requiring higher demands for the dairy farmers and therefore also the management programs. Management programs for feed evaluation calculations have been more developed over the years. Big amounts have been invested in the new feeding system with NorFor, but no one seems to have asked the dairy farmers what they themselves want to spend their money on, and what they need help with. For the dairy farmers it is necessary that the whole company is controlled in the right way, and much more than just feed evaluation is included in this.

After I heard that two deadly accidents in farming 2003 were created by work with cattle, I got the idea of writing this degree project. So far there are not too many reports written about safety for the worker nor the animal. Therefore it will fit in with a report about safe handling of free stalled cattle. The Swedish Board of Agriculture would also like to do an information material about outside stalled cattle with this degree project as a background. The collecting of material was made by visiting farmers. The goal was to visit 15 ? 20 herds and when this is being written 19 herds have been visited.

Today it is common to have adult horses stabled for most of the day. This limits the horses? ability to perform some of their natural behaviors such as foraging and movement. The purpose of this review was to compare the feral horses? diurnal rhythm and time budget with stabled horses.

Vaccination of fish can be assumed to cause pain. This study was designed to see if we can minimize the suffering of fish following vaccination. Fishes are cold-blooded animals and thus more primitive than warm-blooded animals. Despite this, many organs, e.g. the nervous system, have the same basic structure as that of other vertebrates. The fibre system for conducting pain is more diffuse than in humans.