Worldwide consumption of cheese has increased over the years. The average Swede consumes somewhere around 20 kilograms of cheese per year, which is an increase of a 100 % over the past 50 years. One of the most popular kinds of cheese during the past decades is mozzarella, due to its? use as pizza cheese. Flavor and consistency differ between the traditional kind, made out of buffalo?s milk, and the industrially made kind, made out of cow?s milk.

In a time when milk producing farm businesses face decline in profitability it is of great importance to examine how the situation can be improved. This thesis is a study off efficiency in milk producing farm businesses represented by Swedish, Dutch and German farms. The aim of this study is to investigate whether any differences exist between companies in these countries. Moreover, the study includes a mapping of a number of factors that determine how efficient Milk production can be managed. This mapping is based on a literature review on prior efficiency studies followed by qualitative interviews with Milk production advisors as well as a questionnaire sent out to dairy farmers in Sweden.

Dairy farmers using artificial insemination (AI) are dependent on effective oestrus detection. In Sweden, AI is used for a majority of all dairy cows and oestrus synchronisation with hormones is not allowed. There are reports of declining ability to express oestrus with higher levels of Milk production. This makes oestrus detection more difficult. Several aids for oestrus detection have been developed, for instance pedometers and mounting detectors.

In a time when milk producing farm businesses face decline in profitability it is of great importance to examine how the situation can be improved. This thesis is a study off efficiency in milk producing farm businesses represented by Swedish, Dutch and German farms. The aim of this study is to investigate whether any differences exist between companies in these countries. Moreover, the study includes a mapping of a number of factors that determine how efficient Milk production can be managed. This mapping is based on a literature review on prior efficiency studies followed by qualitative interviews with Milk production advisors as well as a questionnaire sent out to dairy farmers in Sweden.

AbstractOne opinion among people who are experienced in hand rearing newborn mammals is that goat milk is more suitable than cow milk if the young needs a milk replacer. The purpose of this literature review was to find out if there is scientific evidence that goat milk is a better milk replacer for piglets, rat pups and foals than cow milk. The milk is essential for the newborn animal, as its only source of nutrition until it has learned how to eat solid food. In this literature review, the composition of goat milk and cow milk is compared with the nutrient requirements after birth in piglets, rat pups and foals. The nutrient requirements and the milk composition are partly determined by the newborn mammals activity level and suckling frequency, which also is described.

Water is an essential factor for both people and animals, and access to water is therefore of great importance. The water access also largely determines the availability of food for people and feed for animals. The aim of this study was to survey the affect of water access on Milk production from dairy animals. The study included nineteen farm visits that were made in the Nyando district in Kenya between February and Mars 2011. Farm visits included interviews with questions about for example number of dairy animals, Milk production, water access, feed and water routines.

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.

The Swedish government has proposed that 20 % of the cultivated land in Sweden should be organic by the year 2010 (The Swedish Board of Agriculture, 2008). In addition to this the production of organic food like milk, meat and egg should increase considerably. To reach the government?s goal it is necessary that the Swedish farmers get motivated to convert their production from conventional to organic. Milko is a dairy association that has chosen to focus on organic products, they want to be the leading organic dairy association, and therefore they have a large need for organic milk (Milko, 2008).

Livestock of pastoralists provide meat, milk, blood, dung and are useful for transportation purposes. In semi-arid and arid areas with very low precipitation the herder must often walk far distances to feed the livestock. This affects the animals? production, especially of milk. Previous studies have investigated how to improve Milk production in terms of milking strategies in cattle.

A variety of food is produced and passes the whole chain by processing, transport and trade and finally it ends up with the consumer. But in many cases, the food is disposed before it is eaten. Some of the produced food does not even pass the whole entire chain before it turns to waste. The question about food waste in debates is a case of access to food for every human beeing. It is question of consumption of the resources, waste management and an issue of environmental impact.

The Swedish dairy sector is facing several challenges the coming years. One big challenge is how they will secure the access of their raw material milk in the future. The number of milk producers has decreased for an extended period of time, but was for a long time partly compensated by an increased productivity among the remaining milk producers. From year 2000 that trend was broken and also the quantity of milk produced started to fall quickly. Milko is a dairy company with members from Dalsland in the south to Jämtland in the north. During the first seven moths 2007, their number of members decreased by almost a fourth, from 1 272 to 974.

Intercropping involving trees is called agroforestry and makes it possible to get higher production for every area unit. The trees can function as food, fodder, fuel, medicine; prevent mark erosion and much more. Agroforestry can also be combined with animal husbandry. The aim of this study was to document the animal production systems used by rural small-scale farmers maintaining ruminants and using agroforestry in the northern province of Rwanda. The farmers using agroforestry is expected to have higher milk yield than average due to homegrown protein. The method used during the study was semi-structural interviews with booth open and closed questions. In order to get in contact with farmers that matched the criteria; small-scaled rural farmers with ruminants and using agroforestry, the ?Vi Agroforestry Programme? (Vi-Life) in Kigali were contacted and the staff worked as supervisors, translators and contact with the farmers throughout the study. During the study nine individual farmers, two cooperatives breeding sheep and one group interview were conducted.

In Kenya the Maasai pastoralists have based their livelihoods on dairy production and the production goal is to maintain a sufficient milk supply throughout the year. The pastoral dairy production has two vital characteristics; breeding and milking. Traditionally, breeding is the men?s responsibility, while milking is the duty of women. Depending on this partition of chores between men and women, they also have different management routines, ambitions and strategies regarding the Milk production.

The purpose of this review was to study the cow eye physiology, focusing on how it registers light, and to see how light affects the cow?s milk yield. It has been showed in studies that more hours of light per day (16 hours of light a day) as opposed to about 9-12 hours of light a day, increases milk yield for dairy cows. This review contains suggestions on how this is connected with the physiology of the eye. Vision is an important sense for many mammals, and is used to check out the animals surroundings. Sensor cells in the eyeball help in turning photons from the light into signals to the brain.

The decrease in the number of dairy farms in Sweden has been ongoing for a longer period of time. But the fact is that this has previously not had any big effects on total amount of milk produced in Sweden. The main reason is that the remaining dairy farms get larger. However, during the past year, there has been a decrease in the total amount of produced milk, because the decrease is faster than the increase within the farms that are left. During the same period of time the supply of milk on the global market also has decreased. In spite of the fact that the global supply have decreased and the fact that the milk price increases, there are dairy farmers in Sweden who chose to exit the market.