Total mixed rations (TMR) and TMR complemented with individual grain Feeding to dairy cows are a growing practice in Sweden. This is because the heard sizes of the farms are increasing. Some farmers and farm advisors in Sweden have great knowledge and practical experience of working with TMR. In the same time there are many advisors that do not know how to handle TMR and farms that have a group based Feeding of their animals. In this MSc thesis, the knowledge of farmers that use TMR and advisors with lots of experience of TMR are gathered, with the aim to create a guide book for advisors that are about to start or just have started working with TMR.

This study consists of a literature study and a survey in Tamil Nadu, India. The aim of the study was to get an understanding of horse Feeding in tropical climates and what kind of Feeding related problems that could occur because of the fodder. Information and data were collected from eight different stables and from Tamil Nadu University of Agriculture in the region of Tamil Nadu in March-April 2009. The horses in Tamil Nadu were given rice straw, unknown grass, Cynodon dactylon, lucerne, maize, Pennisetum glaucum x Pennisetum purpureum hybrid and Chloris gayana as roughage. As concentrates, the horses were given wheat bran, oats, barley, soybean meal, maize, carrots, coconut cake, peanut cake, horse gram and chick pea.

It is possible to affect the feed costs in different ways. By steeping or fermentation the digestibility of the feed is improved for the animals with a natural process in the wet Feeding system Steeping means that the feed is soaked some hours before Feeding. This process activatesenzymes and improves the digestibility of for example phosphorus in the feed and make it more accessible to the animal. Wet Feeding can be fermented or not. Fermentationmeans that the feed has been soaked for a certain length of time so that a biological process is started.

A plant's defensive ability against herbivore attack can be influenced by many different factors, one of them being domestication. During human selection to improve the yield of plants, the resistance against herbivore attack can have been lowered, due to a trade-off for use of resources between these traits in the plants. In this thesis I investigated the effect of domestication on resistance against herbivorous insects in cotton plants. I used different varieties and species of wild and domesticated cotton in three different experiments. A Feeding assay was conducted, the mortality, development time and pupal weight of larvae of the Egyptian cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis was studied. In a second experiment the preference of the root-Feeding beetle Agriotes spp.

Horse owner?s knowledge about horse Feeding and nutrition is directly linked to the horse?s health and welfare. According to several studies, both Swedish and foreign, horse owners generally have inadequate knowledge about horse Feeding. The housing systems and Feeding routines of today differs in many ways from what horses have adapted to through evolution. Wild horses live in harem herds and roam on large open fields, spending about 60 % of the day grazing, mainly grass and herbs.

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.

The purpose of this work was to see if it was possible to rebuild an old dairy house into a house fore sheep production. The goals fore the work was to see witch kind of production model was suitable, how the actual drawing would look like and witch kind of interior was needed. The building was built in the beginning of 1900. It is located on the mountain Kinnekulle in Sweden. It was a big production fore its time and hade about 60 dairy cows. It was a lot of hard work because the floor was built by big stone blocks and it was very hard to rebuild when some more automatic solutions came fore handling all the manure. The idea of remaking the building came when we rebuilt the roof fore 5 years ago.

The aims with the project were to investigate how forage consumption affect production and pigs behaviour around the Feeding. This degree project was designed to follow 48 growing/finishing Hampshire*Yorkshire pigs, from 30-110 kg live weight, fed diets with or without 20 % forage inclusion. The pigs were divided in three groups due to dietary treatment. In the first group the pigs were fed 20 % of the energy in the feed ration by long grass/clover silage (LE) and the remaining 80 % by a cereal concentrate. Group two was fed chopped grass/clover silage mixed with cereal concentrate (HE) in the same amounts as LE.

The return of large predators to regions where they were previously extirpated has created a need for knowledge about their effect on prey species, not only their lethal but also their behavioural or risk effects. In this study the behavioural risk effects of brown bear (Ursus arctos) were tested on fallow deer (Dama dama), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), moose (Alces alces) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). This was done by using patches of fur to simulate the presence of the novel predator (brown bear), a novel nonpredator (reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and no fur as control. These three treatments were then compared. The response variables measured were increased vigilance, decreased Feeding time and change in patch use.

Male piglets have been castrated for centuries to avoid contamination of their meat with boar taint, a strongly unpleasant odour that makes the meat inedible. Today boar taint can be prohib-ited by vaccination against gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) using Improvac®. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of vaccination on growth performance and behaviour of vaccinated male pigs compared to surgically castrated male pigs. The effect of two Feeding regimes, restricted (SLU-norm) and semi ad libitum, was also included in the study. At birth, pigs (n=206) were randomly allocated to the two treatment groups; surgically castrated and vaccination.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether urea could be an option as a nitrogen source for young cattle, the study was limited to risks related to Feeding, growth and feed efficiency. Microbes in ruminants have the ability to convert nitrogen to protein, this has been highlighted by beef producers as they are in search of cheap protein feed resources. Urea can be a worthy source of nitrogen for growing young animals, because of its high nitrogen content and the low price. Studies have shown that the replacement of a portion of the total protein content by urea in diets with low content of crude protein, like corn silage, may improve animal growth and feed efficiency. Replacement of all the true protein with urea can result in reduced feed intake and microbial growth.

Research show evidence for benefits of breastFeeding and that infant-Feeding-plans are supportive. Family-centered care is the theoretical framework. Family support is crucial for successful breastFeeding. It is important that society creates opportunities for mothers to breastfeed and contribute information and support by healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to evaluate how the midwives and child healthcare nurses found that the newest breastFeeding strategy influenced their breastFeeding- and rearing support in the County of Jönköping.

Many scientists agree that phytoestrogens could have an effect on the reproduction of an animal. The question is now why and what mechanisms that play an important role. This paper has been focusing on the estrus behavior of gilts by use of a behavioral study. Some of the gilts were given additional feed with the phytoestrogen genistein which commonly occurs in the feed as a part of soybean products. Blood samples were collected and analyzed for progesterone and estradiol concentrations.

This study is a follow up of a pilot study made 2004, that evaluated Feeding, exercise and weight as possible risk factors for developing any kind of diabetes in dogs. We have selected our material for a certain kind of DM that exists among Norwegian and Swedish elkhounds. These breeds are among the most common breeds affected by diabetes and this kind of DM almost exclusively affects intact bitches. We performed a case- control study where the owners were interviewed over the phone. The owners of a total of 48 case dogs and 58 control dogs were contacted. The questions for the cases focused on the time before the diagnosis and the questions for the control dogs focused on the dog´s adult life.

The purpose of this literature review was from dairy cows? behaviour and welfare point ofview describe how feed bunk and cubicles in a loose house system should be designed. Todaydairy cows in Sweden and in the world have high demands because of a high milk production,stress and higher risk of being afflicted with diseases. Through selection in breeding the bestquality can be performed, but high demands of the environment for the dairy cow is above allalso important for a good welfare and for a good milk production. Feed bunks and cubiclesare just some parts to be designed in the best way for a good animal welfare.