Sow shoulder lesions are a common form of decubital ulcers in sows. The wounds are often bilateral and affect both loose housed and restrained sows. In most cases shoulder lesions develop after farrowing and heal after weaning. Sows that once have had decubital ulcera are however more proned to develop new wounds after the next farrowing. The problem is multifactorial and a number of risk factors have been described, including body condition, body size, parity, time spent lying down, flooring, moisture, breed, body temperature and some herd factors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the height of the tuber spina scapulae is a risk factor for the development of decubital ulcers.

NorFor is a cooperative project between the consulting organisations owned by the farmers in the Nordic countries ? Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The project started in 2001 and the outcome, the system for ration calculation NorFor Plan and the model for evaluating the ration NorFor Evaluation, was completed in 2006. Along with NorFor Plan economical optimization are available and according to literature, the optimization will generate a 2 öre lower feed cost per kg milk, and thereby improve the profit for the farmer. The use of NorFor Plan in Sweden for feed optimization during spring 2008 has been very small. In this study eight herds in the middle of Sweden fed half the herd according to the classical system used in Sweden and the other half according to NorFor Plan system.

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.

Rearing in organic pig production differs from conventional rearing; pigs have outdoor access and larger space allowances. Regardless of production system all pigs are transported before slaughter and during transport pigs are crowded together in a new environment and in a space smaller than they are used to. As pigs in organic herds are reared at even larger space allowances than conventional pigs, such crowding could possibly have a stronger impact on pig behaviour and well-being. Six pig producing herds, three conventional and three organic, were visited and pigs from each herd were enclosed during 12 minutes in a test area corresponding to the crowding on a transport vehicle. During the crowding, pigs? behaviour was observed, before and after enclosure in the test area skin lesion scores were recorded, and also measures of heart girth (for weight estimation) was done.

There are several factors influencing the profitability of production with sheep. Two of the most important factors are ewe fertility and lamb survival. Also growth capacity of the lambs is important. This paper aims to review correlations between the ewe?s fertility and maternal behavior and lamb survival.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur utvalda bolags aktieavkastning inom branscherna flyg, fordon samt olja reagerar vid signifikanta oljeprisförändringar.Teoretiskt perspektiv: Den teoretiska referensramen utgörs av den effektiva marknadshypotesen samt Behavioural Finance med undergrenarna prospect theory, herd behaviour och overconfidence.Metod: Studien utgår ifrån ett deduktivt inslag med en kvantitativ studie. Undersökningen utgörs av sex eventstudier som datainsamlingsmetod samt en intervju som applikation på det kvantitativa resultatet. Urvalskriterium består av tio bolag inom respektive bransch med en rangordning utefter högst omsättning samt företag med en koppling till svenskt näringsliv med högst omsättning.Empiri: Empirin presenteras utifrån diagram och tabeller över de utförda eventstudierna. Diagrammen syftar till att redovisa den avvikande avkastningen för respektive bolag. Tabellerna ger en redogörelse över eventuellt samband mellan respektive bransch och oljeprisförändringarna.Slutsats: Flygbolagen uppvisade samband med oljepriset vid fyra utav sex eventen.

 Redovisningen är anpassad efter den gamla ekonomin och fyller därför inte dagens behov av redovisad information. Istället för att endast redovisa företagets materiella tillgångar behöver bland annat kunskapsföretag presentera osynliga tillgångar vilka utgör en stor del av företagens värde. Detta så kallade intellektuella kapital behöver framhävas i företagens finansiella rapporter för att intressenter ska kunna göra en rättvis bedömning av företaget. Problem uppstår vid värdering och redovisning av intellektuellt kapital eftersom begreppets definition är otydlig och därför uppfattas olika av olika personer. Problem uppstår även eftersom det inte finns några allmänt etablerade principer för hur värderingen och redovisningen ska gå till.

The purpose with this study was to analyze the possibilities to produce organic lambs and to hihglight the most common difficulties in such a production system. A description of current organic and conventional lamb production systems was conducted, both from Sweden and from some other countries. The Department of Animal Environment and Health at SLU in Skara performed the project together with The County Board of Agriculture in Västra Götaland and Värmland and The Swedish Animal Health Service. The project lasted from 2002 to 2004. The student report contains the years 2002 and 2003. In the year of 2003 there were 210 000 adult sheep in Sweden, of which 16 400 adult sheep were certified by KRAV. Of the different countries in Sweden, Västra Götaland and Gotland had the largest number of sheep, 14 and 13 per cent of the total number.

Animal welfare in Sweden has gone through major changes during the later years. In 2004, Swedish Animal Welfare Agency took over the central responsibility for the animal welfare from the Swedish Board of Agriculture, and in 2007 the board again became the central authority for animal welfare in Sweden.Even the practical supervision has changed, from the 1 of January 2009 the supervision is to be performed by the county administrative boards, instead of by the individual municipalities. Since 2006 every horse in the European Union has to have an identification card, in Sweden called a ?horse passport? which describes the color and markings of the horse as well as any veterinary treatments.The ELOF-project, a collaborative project between the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the county administrative boards, intends to make the animal welfare supervision effective, standardised, fair and risk-based. Because of the takeover of the supervision and of the ELOF-project the Örebro County Administrative Board has began to make an inventory of the number of horses and horsefarms in the county. Another Ethology and Animal Welfare-student and I did, in collaboration with the county administrative board created a checklist that in connection with the inventory will lead to a risk-based animal welfare supervision.

The Internet provides the common user with a variety of both traditional and non-traditional news sources, and a vast range of possibilities to contribute to the flow of information. By their participation in the production of information ordinary citizens can sometimes function as non-traditional news sources them selves and reach a potentially unlimited audience. The interactive nature of the Internet blurs the line between producers and consumers, and challenges traditional definitions of what counts as "news" as well as who qualifies as a "journalist". The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the potential consequences of this decentralization regarding the information behaviour of newspaper journalists and their perception of their professional role. The study consists of qualitative interviews with six journalists, employed by four of the leading Swedish newspapers, and a review of earlier research in the field.

This study investigated the effects of rubber alley flooring on cow locomotion, claw and leg health, production, cleanliness, grooming behaviour and cow exclusion rate in a free stall herd. The study was conducted in a new dairy house with a rotary milking system, with a matched group of cows on traditional scraped concrete alleys used for comparison. All claws were trimmed and lesions recorded at the beginning and end of the 4-month study. Locomotion, claw and leg health, behaviour and hygiene were observed and scored at regular intervals during the study. The results showed that cows on rubber alley floors displayed significantly (p.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the interest in Sami reindeer herders to use the Low Stress Stockhandling (LSS) method for handling reindeer. Also to find out which reindeer handling situations they think works the best and the worst, and which might need improvement. The purpose of LSS is to reduce the stress animals are subjected to during handling by creating consistent and calm responses from the animals. This is done by handling the animals through the animals? point of view and using natural herd behavior to accomplish this.

The study investigates the use of collection and treatment wagon for piglets in relation to castration. The importance of good and ergonomically designed tools in pig stables can probably reduce the risk of suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). During the last 20 years the number of pig farms has decreased and at the same time the herd sizes and the number of pig keepers have increased (Statistic Sweden (SCB) 2007). As a consequence, the pig keepers have more pigs to take care of, treat and neuter and spend more of their daily work in these large confinements. This also means that the repetitive work e.g.

The trend towards increasingly large farming units raises questions regarding how to better monitor production. Larger units make the impact from possible errors more severe, which increases the pressure on management supervision. To cope with management issues, prevent errors and handle increased demands on traceability and documentation, the Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) concept is making its way into various parts of agriculture. In sectors outside agriculture, RTLS are already being used successfully to track and locate items through nodes at different levels of accuracy, such as room level or the relative or absolute position. Empirical data can be received in real time from the nodes.

AbstractHerbivores can be classified into either hiders or followers depending on their postpartum behaviour. The two behaviour types affect the spatial relationship between the mother and her infant. Goats are seen as hiders, although the environment plays a central role when it comes to the behaviour. Therefore, in the first part of this study the aim was to investigate how the goat kids? spatial relationship changed in the transition from indoor housing to pasture.