In this final thesis a study about welfare indicators in the Swedish milk production has been carried out. The system Swedish Animal Welfare Monitoring Scheme developed by the Swedish Dairy Association has been used as a base and the EU project WELFARE QUALITY® has also been used as a source of information. Focus groups have been used as a qualitative investigating method. This included four focus groups, two with farm auditors from the two different dairies and two with dairy farmers. This method was chosen because in this way one can study how a conversation about a given subject takes form in a respectable way.

Title: Food companies' work with CSR and its impact on consumer purchases of organic productsLevel: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business AdministrationAuthor: Maria Nilsson and Mikaela JaredalSupervisor: Agneta SundströmDate: June 2015Aim: The study aims to understand and describe how food chains affect consumer choice to buy organic food and how it affects their buying behaviour.Method: Firstly a qualitative study was conducted. It consisted of six semi-structured interviews with store managers and employees on Willys and Coop in Sala and in Nyköping. Secondly a quantitative study was performed in the form of a questionnaire with 80 consumers in Willys and Coop stores located in Sala and Nyköping.Result & Conclusions: We have seen that price is important when consumers decide whether to buy organic food or not. This has been noticed by the food chains who work actively with being able to offer organic food at lower prices. Other factors that affect the consumers choice to buy organic products are offers, displaying and advertising.

Earlier studies have shown that musculoskeletal disorders among animal keepers are more frequent than in other occupations. Most of the farms have expanded and the farmers who used to work alone have suddenly become a work manager with several employers. There are only a few studies made on the work environment in dairy farms. Our study is based on a questionnaire and is a part of a project called large dairy herds. The study is based on data from the persons who milk most of the time. The questions they had to answer were about the work environment, musculoskeletal disorders and the psychosocial environment. The results of the survey are presented in diagrams and figures. It was common that the dairy producer themselves answered the questionnaire.

Mastitis in dairy cows is an emerging and challenging disease in the tropics, including India. Nation-wide reports suggest that the incidence of clinical mastitis varies from 3.94% to 23.25%, and for subclinical mastitis from 15.78% to 81.60%. In Assam, a northeastern province of India, dairy is an essential part of the mixed farming system that exists in the state, but the milk yield is far below domestic standards. In 2009-2010, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and local associates started to develop a training program for local farmers in Assam, in order to enhance the informal bovine dairy sector in and around Guwahati, India. The project continued until mid-2013.

Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that contributes to the global warming. One of the largest sources of methane is livestock, preferably ruminants which alone counted for 30% of the total agricultural anthropogenic methane emissions in the year of 2000. The reason to why ruminants are such large contributors of methane are that the gas is produced in the rumen by enteric formation and leaves the animals by belching, exhaling or by the excreta.Diets high in concentrates can result in a lower emission of methane. Also diets with a high content of starch, such as alfalfa-grass, have a methane-decreasing. It is profitable to reduce enteric methane formation since that form of methane is unavoidably lost.

As a small and land scarce country, effective waste management is ofoutmost importance in Singapore. In this study the production of biogasthrough anaerobic digestion from the organic fraction of municipal solidwaste (OFMSW) was compared to incineration of the waste. At the momentalmost all of the OFMSW in Singapore is incinerated. Three differentscenarios were compared to the reference scenario (incineration): one with alarge scale biogas plant that can treat half of all OFMSW in Singapore, onewith a medium scale biogas plant about 15 times smaller than the large oneand one with a small scale biogas plant that can treat waste from e.g. ashopping center or a food center.By using life cycle assessment (LCA) the different scenarios were comparedin terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification, eutrophication,energy use and land use.

Sleep is a vital part of life. Even so a lot of the mechanics regarding sleep is unknown. The dairy cattle of today live a stressful life, as their high milk yields forces them to eat large amounts of feed and spend a great portion of the day ruminating. Do they have time to get enough sleep? Which factors affecting the need of sleep in dairy cattle are largely un-known.

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.

Claw health has been recorded by claw trimmers at trimming in Sweden since 1996, but data was then captured at each AI association. From 2003 data was captured by central scanning and entered directly to the national cow data base at the Swedish Dairy Association (SDA). This reporting was introduced because SDA wanted to be able to use these records to improve dairy cow claw health by breeding. It is desirable with cows that have healthy claws, because poor claw health can contribute to impaired production and fertility. The claw health report begins with some information about herd, claw trimmer, date et cetera and continues with the part where the claw health is recorded. Here the ID of each cow is filled in and on the same row the conditions for dermatitis, heel horn erosion, sole haemorrhage and sole ulcer are recorded as no lesion (blank), slight lesion (/) or severe lesion (X).

To get a good economy on the dairy farms the fertility control of heifers and cows is a crucial factor. It is also important to know which key parameters that should be tracked. In this work well established routines for heat detection have to be applied. When the dairy farmers use technical aid in estrus control it is important not to forget that technical aids can not replace the human eye. Approximately 50 % of all opportunities to inseminate are missed because clear signs of estrus have not been displayed and/or recorded. The cattle fertility has been declining over recent years. During the same time the cow?s proceeds have increased, consequently applying a higher pressure on the cow and the manager.

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.

Business is changing and so are society?s expectations. Companies are expected to take responsibility for their trade and the context they are operating in, by looking at socially, economically and environmentally aspects. Many companies handle it by implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) to their line of action. This is often handled by collaborating with other organisations, such as non-governmental organisations.

This paper evaluates the prospects for utilizing aquaculture effluents as a nutrient source in organic hydroponic, as is the case in aquaponics. The development of organic hydroponics is dependent on replacing synthetic fertilizers with organically derived nutrients, such as those found in aquaculture effluents. Also, in hydroponic cultivation the establishment of a plant pathogen suppressive micro flora is part of the plant protection strategy. Therefore, both nutritional and microbial qualities of aquaculture water and organic hydroponic nutri-ent solution were analyzed and compared. Results showed both aquaculture water and or-ganic hydroponic solution to be deficient in a number of essential elements, although or-ganic hydroponic solution was closer to recommendations.

The fertility of dairy cows is of great importance in order to maintain high production. The decline in fertility of dairy cows the latest decades can have several explanations. The large emphasis on high yielding cows and the negative genetic correlation between milk production and fertility traits could be one of the main factors for impaired fertility. To find heats and inseminate the cow at the right time is crucial to receive high conception rate. Delaval has, in corporation with FOSS, developed Herd Navigator which is a management program that measure four biological parameters in the milk; progesterone, betahydroxybutyrate, lactate dehydrogenase and urea.

Angelica archangelica (Garden angelica) is the only Medicinal and Aromatic Plant (MAP) with a Nordic origin. The plant can reach up to three meters when cultivated. Angelica archangelica is used as flavouring in additives, honey, beverage base, essential oils, fol-klore medicine and as ornamental for decorative purposes. Commercial cultivation is mainly focused on root production. Production countries are Poland, Netherland, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and former Czechoslovakia with an overall yearly world production of 1000 kg of essential oils.