The purpose of these theses is to show the financial economical situation during the change from conventional dairy production to ecological production. The thesis is accomplished by collecting information from literature and interviews where needed. The target group of these theses is dairy producers who will transform their production from conventional dairy production to certified ecological dairy production. The theses emphasise on the economic situation during the adjustment years. For this I have studied a presently producing dairy farm.

During the last decades the fertility of dairy cows has declined in the same rate as the milk yield has increased. This is a result of the negative genetic correlation between milk yield and fertility, failure to show estrous signs and metabolic problems in the cow. The purpose of this review was to investigate the function of metabolites and hormones as markers for disturbances in fertility, health and production in the dairy cow. There are several metabolites that are suggested to indicate the cow?s energy balance.

When I got the opportunity to write this examination did I want to write about something that I both was interest in and also can use in the future. I think it?s going to be difficult to carry on the milk production with only 28 cows. I wanted to investigate the possibility to increase the herd of cows. I also wanted to compare this cost with a new cow house the cows where milked with a robot.

Background: About five percent of the infants being born in Sweden are cared for in a neonatal unit because of their prematurity. Breastfeeding and breast milk is considered to be the best nutrition for infants in general and for premature infants in particular. The premature infant, depending on how premature, may not be able to breastfeed effectively due to their immaturity. Stress, anxiety and fatigue are factors that affect breast milk production in a negative direction and these feelings are common in the neonatal unit.Aim: To illuminate mothers? experiences of breastfeeding the premature infant in the neonatal unit.Method: A literature review of eight studies with a qualitative research approach, published between the year 2000 and 2012 was conducted.

Weaning is one of the most critical events in the piglet production with problems such as growth check and post-weaning diarrhea as a result. The lighter the piglets are when the growth check occurs, the harder they have to get back to normal growth rate. Creep feeding of piglets is used to reduce the problems by increasing the weaning weight and adapting the digestive tract to a starter diet. Hodge (1974) showed that the sow?s milk can not provide enough nutrients for maximal growth rate.

Automatic milking systems (AMS) have been in commercial use since 1992 and have since 1998 increased a lot. The objective of this study has been to examine the development of udder health on farms converting to AMS. The study also included a comparison of how udder health developed depending on how farms handled cows with mastitis. This was because farms choose to either milk cows with mastitis in a separate barn or in the milking robot. Other studies on udder health on commercial farms have shown that somatic cell count increases both among individual cows and in the bulk milk when converting to an AMS. No differences between before and after converting to AMS in the proportion of cows treated for mastitis can be found in the literature.

In this study I have compared two systems of handling TMR, self-propelled/ self loading mixers and conventional towed mixers, what has been investigated is the time for filling, mixing and feeding TMR as well as maintenance and fuel consumption. The background of this study is the structural rationalization within the Swedish milk production that has put focus on efficiency and reducing of costs. Forage and labour are the two biggest costs in milk production today. The study has been performed by visiting three farms and with a stopwatch measured the times for filling, mixing and feeding TMR. At the time for the visits, the users have been interviewed regarding maintenance and fuel consumption. They have also had an opportunity to give comments of how they experience the mixers. The result of the study after processing is that the average stock in the study can save 74000 SEK a year by reducing time for filling, mixing and feeding TMR to cows with a self propelled/ self loading mixer . The conclusion I can make of this study is that it?s not the size of the stock that decides whether it?s interesting to invest in a self propelled/ self loading mixer, but the presumptions on the farms, for instance forage logistics and mechanical equipment..

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect on growth of foals on two different diets, either a forage-based diet or a diet containing approx. 40 % concentrate. The report also includes a review of the pertinent literature on the effects of diet on mares? milk and growth of horses. The hypothesis of the study was that a forage based diet will result in a similar growth pattern as a diet including more concentrates if the diets contain the same amount of energy, crude protein, lysine, calcium and phosphorous.

Magnesium is one of the most important minerals in the body and it participates in many essential processes, such as energy metabolism and protein synthezis. Magnesium deficiency in cattle may occur when they are let out for pasture in the spring, and is associated with tetany, known as grass staggers. A high yielding dairy cow often loses more magnesium daily in the milk than she has available in the body, and magnesium thereby needs to be provided in the feed to prevent the cow from being affected by deficiency symptoms. The uptake of magnesium is mainly located to the rumen and is not regulated by hormones. The surplus is excreted in the urine by the kidneys.

Ethiopia is the country with most livestock per capita on the continent of Africa. There are 34.5 million cattle that are used for drought, meat- and milkproduction and 85% of the population rely on agriculture for their survival in some way. Milk is produced in four main systems, through pastoralism in the lowlands, in mixed crop-livestock systems in the highlands, in and near big cities with only one or two cows, and in intensive farming systems. There are 17 cattle breeds in Ethiopia and some of them are more suitable for milk production than others. Several environmental and economic problems arise from livestock holding in the country, for example overgrazing, low production due to feed shortage, low quality of the avaible feed and non-existing breeding programs.

This study examines the organization of the village society in Benestad, in southern Sweden, during the period from 1886 to 1928. The study focuses on the commonly owned resources in the village and how the landowners there came together and shared the resources. By studying the records of the societies? meetings, and in particular the cases that concerns the common resources, a categorization has been done. The results of the study show that the landowners in Benestad shared pasture lands, milk carriage and other resources with one another. Overall, the village society had a strong organization with at least two yearly meetings about the commonly owned resources.

The different characteristics of many food products, such as aroma and texture, changes during storage time and become undesirable. The reason is instabilities within the product which become prominent as the product ages. These changes in characteristics are quality losses caused by changes in the product?s intrinsic and extrinsic environment. The stability in UHT-milk and beverages similar to it have been studied in the past decades and a certain focus have been on age gelation which is a common defect in these type of products.

In relation with structure transformation in farm companies with bigger animal population and pressure at the milk price, the farmers in both countries have to invest more money in the company to endure. This had conduct what more owners had seen grown requirements to invest in bigger population barns. The investment is necessary to retain stability in the economy for the companies, at that time when the profitability for small production barns decrease. This essay carries out through a case, there the activities main part are milk production. The present operation consists of 82 milk cows in long stall with a yield on 10 500 kg ECM. The idea is that the company should increase the activity to 180 cows.

Syftet med försöket har varit att utröna hur den naturliga variationen ser ut från dag till dag imjölk från separata juverdelar och hur sammansättningen i mjölken skiljer sig inom kor medolika juverhälsa. I den här studien användes 10 kor från Sveriges Lantbruks Universitet sommjölkades kontinuerligt, 2 gånger per dag i 21 dagar på juverfjärdedelsnivå. Mjölken vägdesvid varje mjölkning och analyserades sedan på antal somatiska celler (SCC), laktos, fett,protein, kasein och vassle protein. Resultaten visar att det är signifikanta skillnader imjölksammansättning mellan juverfjärdedel inom ko. För variation är mjölkmängd denparameter som varierar mest och varierar väldigt mycket mellan juverfjärdedelar.

Yeast and Clostridia is a problem in silage for farmers as contaminated silage may result in poor animal health and milk quality. Clostridia can produce toxins that, when consumed, acts as neurotoxins, it may also cause blown cheeses if the Clostridia contaminates milk. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cause, effect and interaction of yeasts and Clostridia in silage. Clostridia are microorganisms which are strictly anaerobic and consume carbohydrates and protein in the silage. Yeast is a fungus that is facultative aerobic and feed on carbohydrates in the silage.