The purpose of this study was to examine whether urea could be an option as a nitrogen source for young cattle, the study was limited to risks related to feeding, growth and feed efficiency. Microbes in ruminants have the ability to convert nitrogen to protein, this has been highlighted by beef producers as they are in search of cheap protein feed resources. Urea can be a worthy source of nitrogen for growing young animals, because of its high nitrogen content and the low price. Studies have shown that the replacement of a portion of the total protein content by urea in diets with low content of crude protein, like corn silage, may improve animal growth and feed efficiency. Replacement of all the true protein with urea can result in reduced feed intake and microbial growth.

The purpose with this thesis was to form an opinion of how the animal welfare in Sweden is experienced by both farmers and animal inspectors. A great part of this work consists of an inquiry concerning the south and the middle of Sweden. We sent the inquiries to milk and meat producers and to animal inspectors. The response was high, which indicates that this is a subject that affects many people. Our literature study is mostly made on the library bases LIBRIS and LUKAS. The facts we found there were directed towards animal experimentation and furred animal breeding. In order to compare with earlier results we used investigations that had been made by Riksrevisionen 2003. There is a difference in opinions about the new Swedish animal welfare agency that started first of January 2004.

The world?s population reached more than 6.9 billion people in July 2011. It is expected that the population growth during the next 40 years will take place mostly in low-income countries and the population increase will be 2.3 billion people during 2011-2050. A rapid urbanization is also expected to result in 57.7 per cent of Africa?s population living in urban areas in 2050.

In order to optimize calf welfare and health it is important to know the behavior of cattle in free ranging conditions. When the cow is about to give birth to a calf she will leave the heard about 12 hours before. It is then rather obvious that isolating the cow about calving time in a single pen is imitating the cows? natural behavior. To save space and minimize building cost it?s common that the farmers build calving pens for four of five cows especially at larger farms.

Automatic milking systems (AMS) provide the opportunity for less manual labour and an increased milking frequency. But in order to reach an optimal milking frequency a well-functioning cow traffic is crucial. There are many factors affecting cow traffic but one factor that has not been studied thoroughly yet is the effect of different light intensities during the night, 22.00 h to 05.00 h. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the effect of different light intensities during the night on number of selection gate passages (GP), milking frequency and milk yield. The study was conducted as a Latin square were three light intensities were applied: LOW (11 ± 3 lux), INT (33 ± 1 lux) and HIGH (74 ± 6 lux), in three different herds.

The cattle production in the world has been questioned in Sweden due to its negative impacts on the environment. The use of imported soya bean meal as a protein feed for Swedish cattle results in the cutting of rainforest and an extensive use of pesticides in the countries were the soya beans are produced. As a consequence, the environmental impacts caused by cattle production increases. A production of protein feeds in Sweden would decrease the transportations and the cutting of rainforest. For organic beef producers the possibility to produce home-grown protein feeds is important since organic protein feeds can be difficult to obtain in another way.

Individual identification of pigs could be used in commercial herds for production monitoring, disease monitoring and breeding evaluation. This study investigates the possibility of using microchips designed for dogs and cats to identify individual pigs from birth, through rearing to carcass at the slaughter plant. Two different sizes of microchips, and two different ages of the pigs at injection were tested. Castrates and gilts from ten litters were evenly distributed between chip sizes and injection ages. All pigs were identity marked with both electronic ear tags and injected with microchips.

AbstractThe wild forest reindeer is a subspecies of the reindeer. Wild forest reindeer earlier had awide distribution range in Sweden, but it was extinct in the middle of the 19:th centurybecause of extensive hunting. In Finland, the w.f.reindeer was extinct a few decades later bysimilar reasons. Later they migrated back to the eastern parts of Finland in the middle of the20: th century. Around 1980, the w.f.reindeer was actively rentroduced to western Finland,and there the population has had a positive development.

Foot rot is a severe claw disease which occurs among sheep and goats in most parts of the world, with outbreaks in hot and humid weather. It is a contagious bacterial infection caused by Dichelobacter nodosus in association with Fusobacterium necrophorum. Foot rot has a negative impact on both animal welfare and economy.This thesis presents how Australia, Nepal, Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain, Sweden and Uruguay handle foot rot. In the selection of countries the focus was on countries that have control- or eradication programs against foot rot. There are differences in the climate, animal husbandry practices, animal welfare and economic resources in the countries that are presented.

Lawsonia intracellularis is an important pathogen in the intestine, causing diarrhea and retarded (or poor) growth in pigs. Diagnostics is based on sampling of small amounts of faeces. Several publicated scientific papers mention the use of faecal swabs as sampling material for diagnosis in experiments and in prevalence studies. Therefore the need of an evaluation of this sampling technique is urgent since, to our knowledge, this has not previously been done. Here reported work compare the use of rectal swabs for feacal sampling, with sampling and analysis of 0.1-0.2 gram of faeces. The studie included twelve herds with a case history of earlier or ongoing problems with diarrhoea where Lawsonia intracellularis could be suspected as the causative agent. A total of 120 growing pigs where examined.

Cattle have a species specific movement pattern when lying down and getting up. They need sufficient space for their heads to perform these movements normally. The aim of this study was to investigate the lying down and getting up behaviour of beef bulls at a Swedish farm operation. The hypothesis was that bulls older than 10 months (over approximately 400 kg) were disturbed by a horizontal front rail and that the time to lie down and get up differed from what can be regarded as normal based on earlier scientific studies. The bulls were Swedish Red and White (SRB), Swedish Friesian (SLB) or crossbreeds of these two, and were kept in a cubicle system with a stall front design where there was a horizontal rail 40 cm above the stall floor.

Sheep breeding contributes not only with wool, hides, meat and milk but also with openlandscapes. The sheep?s wool is a good raw material thanks to a lot of different qualities as itis water rejecting and easy to form. The wool production today is concentrated to specificplaces in the world which leads to environmental problems and a distorted market. InJämtland, a province in Sweden, there is right now a staking going on for local production andrefining of wool in a project called Ullforum.

Milk yield levels in dairy cows are influenced by many factors such as nutrition, breed, health status, management and environment. This study was conducted among small scale farmers in Zambia, where the climate can be dry for up to six months per year and cause a lack of green pasture for livestock and on-farm produced feed. The purpose of this study was to identify management factors that can influence milk yield at small scale dairy farms in Zambia, and present advice that could improve productivity, without the need of expensive investments. The study included semi-structured questionnaires presented to the farmers (n=29) including questions about cattle management and milk production. Testing of somatic cell count (SCC) with DCC (DeLaval Cell Counter) from herd milk samples (n=56) and observation of housing and animal body condition on-farm was also made.

When cows in Sweden are inseminated the heat strength is reported to the Swedish milk-recording scheme and AI scheme. Cows that show strong signs of estrus are desirable and the trait is included in the Swedish breeding goal. A strong heat makes it easier to inseminate at the right time and to avoid long and expensive days open. Since ten years the heat strength is scored from one to five by the farmer and reported to the milk-recording scheme and AI scheme. Earlier the score was from one to three and the decision was made by the AI technician.

Sheep breeding contributes not only with wool, hides, meat and milk but also with openlandscapes. The sheep?s wool is a good raw material thanks to a lot of different qualities as itis water rejecting and easy to form. The wool production today is concentrated to specificplaces in the world which leads to environmental problems and a distorted market. InJämtland, a province in Sweden, there is right now a staking going on for local production andrefining of wool in a project called Ullforum.