The dairy cow?s ability to resume estrus after calving and to conceive is affected by their metabolic status after calving. For high yielding cows there is a high risk that the feed intake will not be sufficient to cope with the increased energy demands after calving, and the cow will end up in a state of negative energy balance. Energy balance can be measured in various ways, for example by body condition score or by plasma concentration of several metabolic hormones and metabolites. After calving, endocrine pathways stimulate tissue mobilization; insulin signaling is blocked, the concentration of insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) and leptin decreases, and the concentration of growth hormone (GH) increases.

Many pedigree dogs are suffering from inherited diseases or personality disorders caused by selective breeding. The Swedish lapphund is a breed that has been suffering from some loss of genetic variation due to the heavy use of only a few males. Concerns have arisen and crossbreeding has been discussed as a way to manage gene loss. Four breeds has been taken into consideration for this purpose; schipperke, finish lapphund, Norwegian buhund and Norwegian elkhound, black. These breeds has been tested theoretical by a comparison of mentality and health.

The Pallas cat is a small cat living in central Asia. The cat is approximately the size of a domestic cat but the Pallas cat is more stocky build and has a much thicker fur that enables the cat to live in a climate with temperatures plummeting to -50°C. The thick fur is one of the reasons this cat has been a popular game for hunters in the past. Nowadays there are other threats to the Pallas cat. One of the major threats today is the reduction of food sources.

This work describes the genus Helleborus both from a general point of view, and with individual descriptions of 17 species. The intention is not to make a complete description of the genus, but rather to give an overview and an introduction into the world of Helleborus. A separate chapter lists a few pests and diseases attacking the genus, followed by a brief summary of propagation methods and breeding of the genus. Finally, there is a short discussion of thoughts about the genus and its future use..

Gene technology has become more and more attractive in plant breeding during the last twenty years. This is probably because it can readily improve the existing commercial cultivars that have only one or a few drawbacks by modifying one or a few genes without changing the main genetic constitution. In this regard, gene technology is more effective than conventional breeding.The aim of this project was to analyze the fruit quality of the non-transgenic apple scion ?Jonagold? grafted on non-transgenic and rolB-transgenic apple rootstocks. The rootstocks used were M9-rolB1, M9-rolB2, M26-rolB and non-transgenic controls M9 and M26.

The piglet mortality rates have become a major issue in today?s pig production. While other production traits such as number of born piglets or produced piglets per sow have been improved, the mortality rate has escalated. High mortality rates before weaning does not only affect the economy but must also be looked at as both an animal welfare problem and an ethical issue. The background to this problem has been addressed many times, and its salvation has also been addressed by breeding.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the theoretical developments on social entrepreneurship. Our purpose is to create a better understanding of the phenomenon leading to new insights. We have categorized the knowledge of the concept into social economy, social ownership, social innovation and social missions. Drawing from our theoretical review we have chosen four empirical illustrations, Grameen Bank, Wikipedia, Basta Arbetskooperativ, Jörn Hälsogemenskap, and we have shown how these fit into the general description of the social entrepreneur. With help of our illustrations we show that it is complicated to pin point the core of social entrepreneurship as they each have separate structures, innovations, social missions and operate close to different sectors.

The purpose of this essay is to evaluate how the big changes in prices are effecting pigproduction. My calculations show how much there will be left for interests and amortisation. I?ve chosen not to calculate the costs of buildings. The condition from the beginning is a production of pork with 10.000 pigs per year. Instead of buying piglets, I?ve calculated on breeding them and for that purpose I will need 440 sows. I?ve investigated the working hours and given examples of how to decries these. My conclusion is that with the prices we have to day, pork production is a hard business..

The aim of this study was to investigate the social behaviour and time budget of breedingbulls kept at VikingGenetics, Falkenberg in Sweden when the staff was off duty. It was ofinterest to see if there was any difference between bulls housed in group pens and bullshoused in individual pens. It was also of interest to investigate if there was any differencein the behaviour between the dairy breeds Swedish Red (SR) and Swedish Holstein (SH).Sixteen bulls were used in this study. Eight bulls kept in individual pens and eight bullskept in group pens were used. The individually housed bulls had a social gate with widerbars where the bulls could but their head and neck through to have social contact with thebulls in its neighbouring pens.

Today, equine breeding is based on performance and conformation, resulting in a vast variation in fertility among different horses, with noticeable economic losses as a consequence. The horse breeding industry is therefore in need of methods that diagnose the spermatozoa concerning their quality and provide the best sperm for AI. The commonly used selection methods for sperm today are: centrifugation, where extender is added, the sample is centrifuged and then resuspended; swim-up self-migration; adherence separation; and density gradient centrifugation. However, none of these methods are in used routinely in practice before inseminating mares with fresh or cooled semen. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new selection method, Single Layer Centrifugation (SLC), and its effect on sperm viability. The viability was analyzed with regard to membrane integrity and membrane stability of ejaculated spermatozoa.

The purposes of this study were to estimate genetic and phenotypic parameters for conformation traits in Swedish Ardenner, a heavy draught horse, and to investigate the inbreeding status of the population. Additionally, a breeding scheme proposal was created, based on the results achieved in the study. The data studied were obtained from the Swedish Horse Board and from the Swedish Ardenner Association. The data included 1632 three-year-old horses, mainly mares, and 356 stallions, judged between 1986 and 2005 at conformation shows. The traits studied were type, head-neck-body, legs, walk and trot at hand, total score and height at withers.

The purpose of this essay was to investigate affecting factors concerning social workers in social services assessments with cases of abuse. We wanted to see if social workers in social services tend to make different assessments of the need of substance abusers care. Our survey was carried out as a vignettesurvey with complementary interviews as means to deepen the outcome results.Our survey showed that the included social workers in social services in some senses make different assessments when it comes to choice of effort put in for the client. We shed light on different factors and circumstances, which could bear meaning for the social workers in social services assessments. Examples of factors were the social workers in social services age, gender, working experience and attitude towards substance abusers..

There are several factors influencing the profitability of production with sheep. Two of the most important factors are ewe fertility and lamb survival. Also growth capacity of the lambs is important. This paper aims to review correlations between the ewe?s fertility and maternal behavior and lamb survival.

Social work is a social phenomenon, existing in most societies, that has given rise to a multitude of special organizations and professions. For that reason social work is dealing with a complex identity. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how social workers and the scientific discourse interpret the concept of social work. In addition to that the study intends to show similarities and differencies. The research process containes two studies, one based on qualitative interviews with five social workers and the other consisting a surway of academic litterature.

The Swedish consumption of lamb a increasing, and today we yearly eat a kilo of lamb per person each year. As a consequence the Swedish degree of self production according to lamb is steadily decreasing, and is today about 39 %.Today Swedish Meats is now cooperating with the Swedish lamb breeders organisation to raise that percentage. At the same time the European Union presents a new agricultural reform, the MTR (Mid Term Review). The shape of this new reform is not yet fully known, but the general policy has been more or less outlined. The new reform is split into three propositions: the farm model, the regional model and the mixed model.