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.

Främmande trädslag har i modern tid intresserat skogsbruket i sin jakt på ökad produktion, minskad känslighet för skador, förbättrad anpassning med mera. Ett tidigare oprövat trädslag var banksianatallen (Pinus banksiana, Lamb.), en nordlig, välspridd, pionjär från Kanadas inland med en utpräglad etableringsstrategi för torra, nybrända sandjordar. Studiens övergripande syfte var att utvärdera utfallet från 22 år gamla försök av banksianatall och analysera banksianatallens odlingsvärde i norra Sverige genom att på fem lokaler jämföra överlevnad, tillväxt och skador med tall (Pinus sylvestris L.), contortatall (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelmann) och hybriden mellan contortatall och banksianatall. Ett ytterligare syfte var att utreda eventuella effekter av odlingslokalens temperatursumma och trädens latitudförflyttning från ursprungslatituden. I metoden har fältförsök använts där varje enskilt träd mätts och bedömts. Materialet var insamlat i naturbestånd i nordvästra Kanada från 12 provenienser med en latitudinell spridning av cirka fem breddgrader.

Mulesing is a surgical husbandry procedure performed on Lambs in Australia. The reason is toprevent severe fly-strike to the breech area, which otherwise risks to be soiled with faeces.This problem is mainly occurring in sheep of the Merino breed. Their fine wool is in demandworldwide due to high quality. Mulesing has been performed since the 1930?s, and eventhough alternative methods have been discussed nothing is yet generally accepted.

In Swedish sheep industry it is desired to have Lambs slaughtered evenly distributed over the year. Swedish sheep are generally seasonal breeders with Lambs born in the spring and slaughtered in the autumn. Some of the breeds, e.g. Swedish Finewool and Roslag sheep breeds have shown ability to Lamb out of season. For increased knowledge on the possibilities to breed for out-of-season Lambing in Swedish sheep breeds, the aim of this master thesis is to study the variation in frequency of two alleles in the MTNR1A gene in the three breeds; Gotland, Swedish Finewool, and Roslag sheep.

The storm Gudrun January 8-9 2005 felled about 70 millions cubic metres forest in southern Sweden. The majority of the wind damaged forest was spruce (Picea abies). In order to decrease the risk of wind damages in the future other trees species are of interest for forestry in southern Sweden. The purpose of this master thesis was to study if larch were more wind tolerant than spruce. The method was to compare larch, Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi Lamb.), European larch (L.

The aim of this study was to investigate if behaviour, ear positions and cortisol in Lamb which were given access to play followed the different phases of the reward cycle of anticipation, consumption and relaxation. The study was done on 8 Dorset and 12 Dorset x Fine Wool uncastrated male Lambs with an average age of 10 weeks. The Lambs were housed pairwise in litter pens (2 x 3 m). Pairs of Lambs were taken to a play arena (5.9 x 5.5 m) three times a week during five weeks (first week for learning). They were then first kept in a holding pen where they could look into the play arena for 5 minutes and thereafter released for 20 minutes in the play arena which had a ball, two chains and a tunnel.

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.

Hemoplus® (Sarstedt, Nümbrecht, Tyskland) is a guaiac-based fecal occult blood test developed for human medicine. Guaiac-based tests make use of the pseudoperoxidase activity of hemoglobin so the test is not specific for human hemoglobin and can therefore be used in veterinary medicine. Peroxidase-containing foods such as meat (hemoglobin and myoglobin) can cause false-positive results of the test. To ensure that a positive result is not caused by diet, it has been suggested that canine patients should be fed a meatless diet for a few days prior to fecal occult blood testing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of commercial dog food on guaiac-based tests. In this study fecal samples from healthy dogs were analyzed with Hemoplus®.