To produce fine fibre wool as a complement to lamb meat production, Merino and Svea sheep are currently being crossbred in the county of Jämtland. The aim of this study was to evaluate growth and wool quality of the first crossbred Lambs. In addition, a literature study about nutritional effects on wool production has been carried out. The literature study showed that fine fibre wool should foremost be achieved through directed breeding. Nutritional requirements of the sheep at different stages of production should determine their feeding.

In Sweden we need more Lambs during March to June. I decided to calculate on a spring lamb production, because to many of the Swedish Lambs go to slaughter in the autumn. I counted on 1000 ewes which have 2000 Lambs each year, 200 of these Lambs stays on the farm and replace old ewes. The buildings are 3600 square meters. I have counted on two different sorts of buildings, the first one is a shed, the second one is three polytunnel sheephouses.

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.

Sheep production is the only animal production in Sweden that is increasing. Therefore,increasing knowledge of the production is of great interest. In order to run a viable sheepproduction, producers needs to be successful in the breeding of the animals and achievean economic surplus in the end. Lambs that are born healthy and vital have greaterconditions to perform high lamb weight gains and thus a successful production. Thereare many factors affect the survival, birth weight and early weight gain of the new bornlamb.

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.

Sheep production is the only animal production in Sweden that is increasing. Therefore,increasing knowledge of the production is of great interest. In order to run a viable sheepproduction, producers needs to be successful in the breeding of the animals and achievean economic surplus in the end. Lambs that are born healthy and vital have greaterconditions to perform high lamb weight gains and thus a successful production. Thereare many factors affect the survival, birth weight and early weight gain of the new bornlamb.

This study aimed to investigate whether Lambs show anticipatory behaviours in a holding pen prior to entering a known arena, whether the holding pen experience prior to the arena exposure affects their play expression in the arena and whether their behaviour (in home pen) is affected if arena access is denied. Twenty pair-housed male Lambs (average 14 weeks old), were exposed, in chronological order, to five treatments. Holding pen treat-ment (HP-control): Each pair was led into a holding pen (2.7 m2) and remained there for 5 minutes before returning to their home pen (6 m2). Holding pen ? arena treatment (HP-A): Each pair was led into a holding pen for 5 min and then was allowed access into the arena (22 m2, containing two hanging chains, one ball and one platform) for 15 min before re-turning to their home pen.

The aim of this literature review was to suggest suitable index traits to use in the Swedish Sheep Recording Scheme for fertility and maternal traits. Since fertility and some of the maternal traits are not normally distributed advanced methodology is needed to calculate genetic parameters. Breeding is a tool to improve the economy of the farm and for the selection of breeders estimated breeding values (EBV) for important traits are of high value. In sheep breeding both Lambs born and Lambs weaned should be taken into consideration as well as the ewe?s maternal ability, which includes lambing ease, lamb survival, ewe behaviour as mother and the early growth of the Lambs.

The abrupt and early weaning of intensively kept Lambs may have serious animal welfare implications, but relatively little is known about this. Weaning includes the breaking of the mother-young bond and abrupt replacement of milk by solid food, often coinciding with changes in the (social) environment. Altogether, these changes are likely to affect lamb welfare significantly. This study aimed to establish how strong and persistent lamb welfare is impaired following abrupt weaning by means of measuring behaviour parameters indicative of affective state. Also, we investigated the existence of a diurnal rhythm in play behaviour, which is considered an important indicator of positive affect and good welfare.

The quantity of methane emissions from sheep depend on several factors, for example, the composition of the diet, feed quality, the age of the animals, time of the day and maybe also breed and sex. A comprising literature review was made about which factors that affect the size of emissions. In addition, a questionnaire was sent to two farms, one with a more intensive production system and another with a more extensive system. Inventories of the two farms were made; the rest of the data needed to conduct the study was taken from literature and other sources. Meat produced at the more intensive farm caused emissions of 0.4 kg of methane per kg of bone free meat and the more extensive farm caused emissions of 0.9 kg methane per kg of bone free meat.

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.

Phytoestrogens are secondary metabolites produced by plants. Among the plants that make phytoestrogens are soya, red clover and some types of grass. The name phytoestrogen is a collective term for compounds such as genistein, daidzein, biochanin A and formononetin. These compounds are similar to oestradiol-17? in their chemical structure.

This study investigates a farm in Dalarna which includes 16 ha of farmland and 1, 7 ha of pasture. The purpose is to find out if it is possible to start an animal production in Dalarna. The study is set only to compare spring lamb production with nurse cow production. There are two buildings on the farm that can be used for this purpose. One is an old cowshed, and the other is an unused silo for silage with a roof on top. Both of the buildings are compared to every alternative in the calculations.

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.

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.