Dairy cows transform grass to milk with help from ruminal microorganisms that can digest indigestible fiber in their feed. The digestive system of the cow is adapted to a diet consisting of forage and disorders like acidosis, laminitis and abomasal displacement can occur if the feed contains too much starch. To achieve the highest production possible the cow has to be given a high amount of concentrate or grain as the difference in milk yield is significant, approximately 1000 kg energy corrected milk per cow and year between conventional and organic cows that are fed a lower versus a higher share of forage. If the cow shall be able to eat the same amount of energy from forage as from grain or concentrate the eating- and rumination time gets longer and she might not be able to eat enough, which will result in a lower milk yield and will make it harder for the cow to recover from the negative energy balance that originate from the beginning of the lactation. Fat and in a sense protein content differs also depending on if the cow is given a high or low share of forage..

Mastitis is the most common disease of dairy cows. Mastitis can be painful for the dairy cow and causes economical losses for the farmer. These losses are due to decreased milk production, more working hours for the farmer, treatment costs and possible costs due to culling of the cow. The udder inflammation, mastitis, is often caused by bacteria infection. One of the most common bacteria found to cause mastitis in Sweden is Staphylococcus aureus (S.

Milk fat is an important feature in many different milk products and other foodstuffs and it is often crucial for the dairy plants that the milk fat is stable for different manufacturing processes. Lipolysis is the enzymatic degradation of fat and is the one of the causes for an elevated amount of free fatty acids (FFA) in milk. Further, the change in fatty acid (FA) composition in milk can affect the stability of the product and also the manufacturing process. Both internal and external factors, at farm level or at the dairy plants can affect both FA composition and content of FFA. Milking frequency (MF=number of milkings per cow and day) and the composition of feed are two examples of factors generally performed at farm level. The objective of the present study was to evaluate how FA composition of milk and amount of FFA are influenced by two different ingredients supplemented to concentrate.

Sahlgrenska AcademyAt University of GothenburgDepartment of internal medicine and clinical nutritionAbstractTitle: D for depression: Does vitamin D supplementation have apalliative effect on depressive symptoms? ? A systematic reviewAuthor: Emelie Nacksten and Lua Ferreira RangelSupervisor: Fredrik BertzExaminer: Ingrid LarssonProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: May 22th, 2013BackgroundDepression is one of the major diseases in the world and is ranked by the WHO as the leading causeof disability. Several studies suggest that there is a correlation between low s-25(OH)D levels and theoccurrence of depression. Current research has found enzymes required for synthesis of the active formof vitamin D and its receptors (VDR) in the brain. The potential role of the vitaminas a neuroactive steroid has resulted in an increased interest in investigating the role of vitamin D in thetreatment of depression.ObjectiveStudy the scientific evidence to determine if vitamin D supplementation can relieve depressive symptomsin adults.Search strategyThe literature search was conducted in the databases Scopus, Pubmed, Cochrane and PsychInfo.

The aim of the study was to investigate if the Grazemore Decision Support System (DSS) is able to provide a grazing management strategy that gives a high utilisation of grazed grass in milk production in the north of Scandinavia. To do this, a grazing experiment was planed and performed during the summer 2005. Simulations in the DSS were run to get a suggestion of how the cows should graze, grazing calendar 1. Deviations and updates during the season resulted in the simulated grazing calendar 2. During the experiment, the actual milk yield was recorded twice weekly. The difference between actual and predicted milk yield by Grazemore DSS was analysed statistically with regression analysis and the mean square prediction error (MSPE) was estimated.

Milk allergens were digested by allowing them to flow through a chromatography column, where pepsin was conjugated to the stationary phase of the column. The allergen fragments were then characterized both biochemically, by using SDS-PAGE and gel permeation chromatography, and immunologically, by examining their reactivity to IgE and monoclonal antibodies..

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of internal medicine and clinical nutritionAbstractTitle: Can supplementation with vitamin E improve cognitive function in Alzheimer?s disease?Author: Malin Andersson and Elin LöfqvistSupervisor: Elisabet RothenbergExaminer: Anna WinkvistProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: 2012-04-11Background: Alzheimer?s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. As the average life expectancy rises the prevalence increases. The disease leads to gradual deterioration of cognitive functions. A recent Cochrane review describes how several studies demonstrate an increased oxidative damage in the brain in those with AD.

Today the milk production per cow is increasing but the milk delivered by the Swedish farmer contains less amounts of fat and protein than earlier. The contents have decreased since 1993. In average the milk contain 4,2 percent fat and 3,4 percent protein. Earlier the fat content in milk was important. Nowadays the dairy?s attention has turned to the milk?s valuable proteins, principally the caseins, which have a considerable nutritional value and are important for several dairy products like cheese and yoghurt.

Heifer?s growth may be divided into three main phases: calf period, puberty and pregnancy. When the heifers are about three months old a critical period begins. This period ends when the heifer reach puberty and have her first oestrus at around 9-12 months of age. In the critical period the mammary gland starts to grow at a fast rate and Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) transport the growth signals to the mammary glands.

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.

Most of the goats in the world exist in the developing countries where they are important in the meat industry. In Europe, goats are mostly kept for milk production although the interest for meat is growing. Goats have a thin carcass with only small amounts of intramuscular fat, which gives a lean meat. This thin subcutaneous fat cover can cause cold shortening when chilling the carcass. By using electrical stimulation cold shortening can be prevented.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of strategy for grouping calves into group pens with automatic milk-feeding systems on the calves' health and growth rate. The usefulness of changes in feeding behavior recorded by the computerized milk-feeder during periods of illness to identify calves with clinical diease was also studied. In the first experiment, 64 calves were moved in and out of group pens in a continuous way, while 46 calves were transferred into group pens until the the pen was considered "full". The calves in the latter groups were then held together until weaning. It was found that calves in the fixed groups grew approximately 100 g / day more compared to the calves in the dynamic groups. Signs of clinical respiratory disease were less frequent in this group, while the incidence of diarrhoea was slightly higher. In the second experiment health parameters, milk consumption and feeding behaviour was recorded daily for 46 calves.

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicin and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: Does supplementation of omega-3 during pregnancy affectprevalence of allergy in infants and children?Author: Peter Eliasson, Anna RahmSupervisor: Lena HulthénExaminer: Anna WinkvistProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 ECTSDate: 2012-04-12BackgroundEpidemiologic research has shown an association between a high intake of fish and allergy.The underlying theory is that allergy develops already at a prenatal stage and food intakeduring pregnancy has been shown to be significant. Conducting research on allergy isproblematic since it has genetic, as well as enviromental, determinants.ObjectiveThis thesis attempts to conclude and evaluate research on a connection betweensupplementation of omega-3 during pregnancy and allergic outcomes in infants and children.Search strategyThe literature search was conducted in the databases PubMed and Scopus. Among thekeywords chosen were omega 3, supplement, pregnancy and allergy.Selection criteriaHuman RCT, that measured allergy, where the intervention consisted of supplementation withomega-3 for at least ten weeks during pregnancy and ceased at birth.Data collection and analysisThree articles were chosen for this thesis. The articles were examined using templates fromSBU and the quality of evidence was evaluated according to GRADE.Main resultsNone of the articles showed a protective effect on allergic outcome but in one of the studiesthere was significant reduction in eggallergy and another showed significant lower occurrenceof severe eczema.ConclusionsSupplementation with omega-3 during pregnancy does not occur to have an protective effecton allergic outcome in infants and childen but the evidence for this is considered to bemoderate.

The objective of this work was to evaluate and compare three field methods for detection of mastitis, California Mastits Test (CMT), DeLaval cell counter DCC (DCC) and FMA2001 Farm Milk Analyzer (FMA2001). Furthermore, to investigate at what cell count level clinical symptoms of mastitis are seen, and finally to check if the clinical findings and cell counts could be related to bacteriological findings. DCC and FMA2001 are new analytic instruments to be used on dairy farms for detection of mastitis. CMT has been a widely used cow-side-test of milk quality in mastitis control efforts, but it cannot be used for estimating cell counts in scientific studies or investigations. Two hundred and eight quarter milk samples from 52 cows were analysed with DCC and CMT, and 168 of these samples with FMA2001. Microbiological examination was done on 38 milk samples with CMT scores of 4 and 5.

The Swedish Red Polled breed is threatened by extinction and there are only around 1100 animals left. The breed was popular in the early twentieth century, but since then the numbers have steadily decreased. The overall objective of this study was to find out whether there may be economic incentives for preserving the breed. The milk quality properties are of major importance in the production of dairy products. Therefore we would like to establish if the Swedish Red Polled breed carries favourable alleles at loci of relevance for milk quality, to potentially make the breed more interesting for milk production.