There are various arguments for using total mixed rations (TMR) or not. Cows can easily become fat and thus poorly utilize the feed while it can be stated that TMR also has a positive effect on cows? health and wellbeing as the rumen environment is more constant than when separate feeding is applied. Studies do show that that especially low yielding cows kept in groups get fatter when fed TMR. The overfeeding implicates higher feeding costs. This study included 10 herds where 5 had TMR and 5 hade separate feeding of forage and concentrates.

The purpose of this report was to compare two different options for expanding of an existing pig farm. For the time being there are low prices within the agricultural market of pig production, and it is interesting to see if it is worth expanding or not. The two different options this report is based on are: expanding from a herd with 50 sows in breeding gilt production to a herd with 100 sows in breeding gilt production (option 1), or expanding to a herd with 140 sows in breeding gilt production (option 2). The number of pregnant gilts produced per year will stay the same for both alternatives; about 300 pregnant gilts per year. The rest of the breeding gilts will be sold at a weight of 25 kg. The pigs that are not sold as breeding gilts (e.g. castrates, and female pigs that are too small or that have disorders) will be kept on the farm as growing-finishing pigs until 120 kg of live weight, and then sold to the slaughter house. By using the existing buildings, even after the expanding, the investment costs, and thereby costs for housing, were kept as low as possible.

I dagens byggprocess läggs enormt mycket tid och resurser på hantering av pappersritningar och andra utskrivna dokument som är nödvändiga för att produktion och förvaltning ska fungera. Vid stora projekt kan det handla om tusentals olika ritningar och dokument som ska hanteras och dokumenteras vilket kan vara oerhört omständligt, inte minst när revideringar måste utföras.När ett BIM-projekt utförs idag så tappas en hel del av den information som modellen innehåller till följd av att det ska skrivas ut på en pappersritning, vilket i sin tur gör att mycket av informationen inte kommer till sin rätt. I dagsläget finns ett flertal programvaror med syftet att hantera BIM-modeller och andra dokument rent digitalt i datorn eller i surfplattan. Här har man kommit en bra bit på vägen mot ett ritningsfritt projekt men det finns mycket kvar att arbeta vidare med.Sweco Architects och NCC påbörjade under 2012 ett projekt vid namn ?Det ritningsfria projektet? som till en början delvis gått ut på att kartlägga vilka problem som kan uppkomma vid övergången till ett ritningsfritt projekt.

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.

The dry period is usually 6-8 weeks and in this period the basis of the performance in the following lactation is settled. In an average herd about 15% of the cows are dry (Marcussen & Krog Laursen, 2008). In many herd the dry cows are set aside, that means setting aside 15% of your herd, at the time when they are preparing for their next lactation. The recommendation for number of groups differs depending on country traditions or reasons for grouping. If you look at recommendation for feeding, some companies selling feeding equipment advocates one group throughout the dry period, but the number differs from one to three.

Swedish dairy production has during the last decades undergone considerable structural rationalisation and the number of dairy herds has decreased to less than 7000. At the same time the average herd size has increased and a large proportion of those investing in new buildings today choose automatic milking (AM). During 2008 more than ten percent of the Swedish cows will be milked with AM. The development has been faster than expected and the need for consulting has increased rapidly. This study aims to evaluate whether a check list originating from the FRISKKO (?healthy cow?) programme can be a useful tool when assessing how well the herd functions in various areas.

The dry period is usually 6-8 weeks and in this period the basis of the performance in the following lactation is settled. In an average herd about 15% of the cows are dry (Marcussen & Krog Laursen, 2008). In many herd the dry cows are set aside, that means setting aside 15% of your herd, at the time when they are preparing for their next lactation. The recommendation for number of groups differs depending on country traditions or reasons for grouping. If you look at recommendation for feeding, some companies selling feeding equipment advocates one group throughout the dry period, but the number differs from one to three.

A cattle producer that buys calves that are younger than six months to the herd should have a starter stable to prevent infection spreading in the herd. According to the Swedish animal welfare regulation there has to be a starter stable if more than 50 calves that are younger than four months are bought in yearly to the herd. The aim of the study was to improve the knowledge about bovine buildings and management of starter stables to obtain optimal weight gain and health of the calves. The hypothesis 1) The younger the calves are when purchased, the higher the calf mortality and 2) Purchasing calves from a high number of herds involves a higher risk of calf health problems and calf mortality were tested in the study. The objective of the study was to give advices by way of presenting ideal solutions of how a starter stable should be constructed and managed. A field study was done during June to September 2008 to collect knowledge and experience from existing starter stables.

Difficult calvings and stillborn calves are costly for the producer and lowering these frequencies can decrease the costs for the dairy operation. Each calving in the herd is registered by the farmer and stored in a central database. The information is used to monitor the level of calving-difficulties and stillborn calves in the herd and nationally. Monitoring of these registrations is important to detect possible changes. Breeding-value prediction for calving traits is based on the calving information in the database.

Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite causing diarrhoea in many different animal species including cattle and man. It is an important enteric pathogen in neonatal calves and it is the second most common pathogen found in diarrhoeic calves in Sweden. Subclinically infected adult cattle have, in international studies, been shown to shed a low number of oocysts in faeces and this has been recognised as a potential source of infection for new-born calves. The detection methods used for diagnostic purposes are based on microscopic investigation of faecal smears. These methods have a fairly low sensitivity and samples from subclinically infected cattle have to be concentrated before analysis.

The aim with the literature study is to inform about the risks that exists in large dairy farms(with focus on mastitis and hoof health) and to inform about the milk industry in Sweden.Personal comments from two study visits (Nötcenter Viken and Vadsbo Mjölk AB) arelinked together with the literature and forms into a discussion regarding sustainableagriculture versus the milk cow's welfare.The profitability for Sweden's milk farmers have decreased because of the decreased milkprice and current inflation. This leads to an increase in herdsize in order to make a profit.The milk cow herds in Sweden becomes fewer year by year and the herdsize increases. Theincreased herdsize can cause a decrease in the time the farmer spends per animal. This canaffect early disease detection and prolong the animals suffering.Swedish Board of Agriculture published (2008) statistics showing that today's milk cow ismedicated primarily because of two reasons; mastitis or hoof problems. Mastitis is thereason to two thirds of all treatments that are carried out.

The aim with the literature study is to inform about the risks that exists in large dairy farms(with focus on mastitis and hoof health) and to inform about the milk industry in Sweden.Personal comments from two study visits (Nötcenter Viken and Vadsbo Mjölk AB) arelinked together with the literature and forms into a discussion regarding sustainableagriculture versus the milk cow's welfare.The profitability for Sweden's milk farmers have decreased because of the decreased milkprice and current inflation. This leads to an increase in herdsize in order to make a profit.The milk cow herds in Sweden becomes fewer year by year and the herdsize increases. Theincreased herdsize can cause a decrease in the time the farmer spends per animal. This canaffect early disease detection and prolong the animals suffering.Swedish Board of Agriculture published (2008) statistics showing that today's milk cow ismedicated primarily because of two reasons; mastitis or hoof problems. Mastitis is thereason to two thirds of all treatments that are carried out.

Icelandic horses are becomming increasingly common in Sweden. The owners of Icelandic horses in Sweden usually believe their horses to be different from other breeds. Icelandic horses are predominantly considered to be less reactive, less neophobic and easier to handle than other breeds. Swedish owners of Icelandic horses also usually try to house and handle their horses in a way similar to the traditional extensive Icelandic way. There are no scientific studies of breed differences between Icelandic horses and other breeds, or of the housing of Swedish Icelandic horses.

Habituation to an automatic milking system (AMS) for cows in their first lactation differs from habituation to other milking systems. In AMS the cows are supposed to visit the milking station (MS) voluntarily. The milking takes place individually during the whole day, except when the milking system is cleaned. Milking is carried out without any human survey. The aim of the study was to describe the cow?s introduction in AMS in their first lactation.

Drinking water from drilled wells has a high content of iron and other minerals in many places in Sweden. Questions about the association between the quality of drinking water and the health of dairy cows are regulary asked both by advisers and dairy farmers. There are so far not many studies published about the relevance for high iron content in water and dairy cow health and production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate if there is a connection between the iron content in water and the health of dairy cows. Initially a literature study was made about iron and it´s function in ruminants.