The aim of this undergraduate thesis was to formulate advices regarding the use of field beans, cultivated together with spring wheat, as whole-crop silage in feeding to dairy cows. In the thesis, optimal harvest time of the field bean/spring wheat crop, as well as the feeding value and the fermentation quality, was studied. On the research station at Röbäcksdalen in Umeå field bean/spring wheat (70 % respective 30 % of normal seed rate for the pure crop) and pea/oat (70/30) was grown in field experiments both 2002 and 2003. The following year, 2004, the pea/oat crop was excluded and instead field bean and spring wheat was cultivated in three different mixed ratios (field bean/spring wheat; 100:0, 70:30, 30:70). Every year the crops were harvested at four different development stages and the green forages were used in ensiling experiments.

The goals of this Bachelors? Thesis were to establish the production loss through the VTIS1 Pasteur at Arla Foods Linköping dairy and then suggest simple but effective solutions to minimize the losses for each production run. If the timeframe allowed it, some of the solutions would be implemented and tested in full production to determine their impact on economic and environmental savings.The very first step of this project was to establish the statistics over what losses there is in the production pipeline through VTIS1, from milk and powders in mixer tanks to finished and packed products in cold storage. Then, when knowing how much product was actually lost and where, those bottlenecks could be pinpointed and examined more closely. At this stage the focus was switched, from the otherwise complicated and broad manufacturing process, to the VTIS1-aggregate, since early data indicated there were quite substantial losses there.In conjunction with this project Arla Foods purchased an absorption photometer-measuring device (OPTEK AS16) that could be inserted straight into the product stream out of VTIS1, allowing real time measurements of its optical density.

The purpose of this literature review was from dairy cows? behaviour and welfare point ofview describe how feed bunk and cubicles in a loose house system should be designed. Todaydairy cows in Sweden and in the world have high demands because of a high milk production,stress and higher risk of being afflicted with diseases. Through selection in breeding the bestquality can be performed, but high demands of the environment for the dairy cow is above allalso important for a good welfare and for a good milk production. Feed bunks and cubiclesare just some parts to be designed in the best way for a good animal welfare.

The milk production per cow has increased considerably during the last 50 years and due to the breeding for higher milk production also brings decreased reproduction efficiency. In a Swedish study 1996 it was shown that on average only half of all estruses were detected. Every time a farmer fails to detect oestrus it costs the farmer about 1200 Swedish crones and the need of means of detecting oestrus is therofore large. With this study we wanted to investigate if heart rate respectively crystallisation of vaginal mucus (arborisation) could be useful means of detecting oestrus. We monitored two oestrus cycles in four heifers.

In order to investigate if the KRAV-regulations have any effects on the health and welfare of calves, KRAV-affiliated farms were compared to conventional farms with respect to calf management and outcome. The dairy calf has had a low economical impact during history. Even today the value of the calf is low and a lot of calves have a poor health status. The calf breeding is built on tradition and on the fact, that cheap antibiotics have made it possible to ignore, the recommendations about good hygiene in the calf?s environment.

Feed intake in dairy cows is regulated by a variety of factors influencing hunger and satiety. One of the regulation systems includes the short chain fatty acids produced during feed degradation in the rumen. Starch can be digested either in the rumen where short chain fatty acids are produced or in the small intestine where glucose is the end product. Since glucose does not have the same effect on satiety that short chain fatty acids have, the site of starch digestion might be an important factor that affects feed intake and milk production. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of site of starch digestion on feeding behaviour (feed intake, consumption time, and eating frequency) and milk production. Because feeding behaviour is closely connected to the cows? environment, the study also included observations of behaviour. Three different feed rations were compared.

Bovine milk is an excellent source of bioactive peptides. The bioactive peptides are in an inactive state in the protein and are released during enzymatic activity, e.g. during cheese ripening. Specific properties of bioactive peptides from ripened cheese has been reported, e.g. antihypertensive, antioxidative, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory and mineral binding.

Milk fever, or parturient paresis, is the second most common disease in Swedish dairy cows. The disorder is associated with the onset of lactation when some cows are unable to meet the metabolic demands of calcium to support milk production and therefore develop a state of hypocalcaemia. Clinical hypocalcaemia (milk fever) may lead to coma and death in severe cases but subclinical hypocalcaemia has also been shown to have negative effects on e.g. feed intake and production and to increase the susceptibility of the cow to develop secondary diseases. The nutritional strategy applied precalving is of great importance in preventing milk fever and e.g.

Detta examensarbete är en undersökning av hur många liggbås som finns i olika skötselsystem för robotmjölkning med dels fri kotrafik och dels olika former av styrd kotrafik. Undersökningen föreslogs av Växa Sverige och är en enkät som skickades ut till 70 lantbrukare. Användbara svar till undersökningen lämnades av 44 av lantbrukare. I undersökningen har vi valt att redovisa resultaten i 5 olika kategorier, Milk first, Feed first, Frigående kotrafik, Flerboxsystem och Ekologiska. Det finns idag inga rekommendationer för antalet liggbås per mjölkningsrobot baserade på praktisk erfarenhet, för lantbrukare som ska bygga nytt stall. De enda riktlinjer som finns är robotföretagens teorier och Sveriges djurskyddlag som kräver minst ett liggbås per ko. I studien framkom att det var en stor variation i antal liggbås per robot och även i önskade antalet liggbås per robot. Faktorer som påverkade antalet liggbås var kornas medelavkastning, aktuellt system för kotrafik och hur lantbrukarna vande in kvigorna och sinkor till roboten innan kalvning.

The heterosis effect and breed group effect of crossbreds between Swedish Holstein (SH) and Swedish Red (SRB) was estimated in this study. Observations on cows born between 1990 and 2012 were used to estimate the heterosis effect and breed group effect for several traits included in the Nordic breeding goals: production, fertility, udder health, calving performance, survival and other diseases. Breeding within the Holstein dairy breed has earlier been focused on increased milk production and conformation. This, combined with an intensive use of individual animals, has resulted in a radical increase of milk yield in the Holstein dairy cow population all over the world. However, this breeding strategy has resulted in increased inbreeding and several functional traits have impaired.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cow-level association between acute hoof lesions and the somatic milk cell count in dairy cattle. Cows from three loose-housed Swedish dairy herds were enrolled in the study if they had an acute hoof lesion treated by a veterinarian or professional hoof trimmer during the preceding year, according to farmer records. Studied lesions were sole ulcer, dermatitis, interdigital necrobacillosis and hoof abscess, in each case causing lameness. For each hoof-diseased cow, 0 to 3 healthy cows were included, matched with respect to herd, breed, parity and lactation stage. Cell counts were obtained from monthly test recordings from one month before to three months after the hoof-lesion diagnosis, and log-transformed.

This study is based on an earlier interdisciplinary study made by Redbo et al., (2000), Extensive cattle production systems ? out wintering, which lasted over two winters, 97/98 and 98/99, with two groups of heifers indoors and two groups of heifers outdoors raised in different environments, indoors or outdoors during their second winter. Both indoor and outdoor heifer groups were fed grass silage ad libitum throughout the experimental period that lasted from October until May. The objective of this study was to evaluate the long term effects of being raised in these two environments. This study includes data collected during the period lasting from the start of the experiment of Redbo et al., (2000) until the heifers had calved a second time and the results mainly deal with the performance of the animals after the experiment during their first two calvings and their first lactation.

SAMMANFATTNINGMastit är den vanligaste och mest kostsamma sjukdomen hos mjölkkor. Enligt statistik från Svensk Mjölk har cirka 65 % av alla kor i Sverige mastit någon gång under en laktation. Subklinisk (utan märkbara symtom) mastit utgör det största problemet. De är svåra att upptäcka då även mjölken ser normal ut, vilket resulterar i att den hamnar i tanken och levereras till mejeriet. Mjölk från kor med mastit har ett ökat celltal samt försämrad kvalitet och sammansättning vilket i slutändan medför sämre betalt för lantbrukaren.

Biogas is a gaseous fuel, rich in methane, produced through a biological route in an anaerobic digester. A gas engine generates combined heat and power, which can be used at the farm to reduce energy cost. The process also generates a digestate, with better utilization of nutrient compared to cattle manure. The aim of this study is to analyze the profitability of a farm-scale biogas plant for combined heat and power (CHP) at Wapnö. Wapnö is an agriculture company located in the southern part of Sweden.

Animal welfare can be measured in several different ways; for example by using animal-based measurements. It has been shown that register data from the Swedish Official Milk Recording Scheme can be helpful when identifying herds at risk of having poor animal welfare, which led to a development of the advisory service of ?Ask the Cow? and the web report ?Animal Welfare Signals?. The aim of this project was to find out if register data from ?Animal Welfare Signals? can be used as a screening tool for detecting herds at risk of having poor animal welfare and in need of an ?Ask the Cow?.