The behaviour of the red-tailed guenon (Cercopithecus ascanius) was studied over the course of nine days in the Sabaringo forest surrounding Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp near the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. A focal animal instantaneous sampling method with a one minute interval was used to record the behaviours of the monkeys for approximately 12 hours a day, the day being divided into six shifts á two hours. This method has proven successful in earlier studies of red-tails in this area. The study subjects included both Lactating and non-Lactating females, juveniles and on some occasions the resident male. The purpose of this study was to examine the grooming behaviour of red-tailed guenons and whether or not the occurrence of grooming varies depending on monkey type (Lactating or non-Lactating) and time of day.

It?s been noted that cows held at the section of ruminant medicine and epidemiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (IME), used for the education of veterinary students, have a lower heart rate than what is considered normal for ruminants. In this investigation the heart rates of seven Lactating cows were recorded continuously during the period around drying off. The first recording took place at the farm from where the cows were bought, and then their heart rate was monitored after their arrival at IME and further on until they were completely dried off. The results were then compared to the heart rate of seven already dried off cows from the same farm.

Six cows were subjected to an intravenous glucose tolerance test (GTT) to evaluate the amount of glucose that is needed to stimulate the release of insulin from pancreas. Four of the cows were in early lactation and two were non-Lactating and not pregnant. Series of blood-samples were collected to analyze the concentration of insulin and glucose in the blood. The cows were given lower levels of glucose than have been used in earlier glucose tolerance tests. The levels of glucose given were 7,5 mg/kg BW, 15 mg/kg BW, 30 mg/kg BW and 50 mg/kg BW.

The red-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius) is a small, alert and active animal inhabiting forests with dense vegetation and as such hard to observe in its natural habitat. The principal aim of this study was to scrutinize whether the methods, previously used in a behavioural study of the blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) can be applied in studies of the red-tailed monkey?s behaviour as well. Additionally, habitat preference and foraging behaviour of the red-tailed monkey were examined. The study was carried out between the 16th and the 22nd of March 2009 in the Sabaringo forest, located on the western border of the Masai Mara National Reserve.

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.

Glycerol is essential for the lipid metabolism of both plants and animals. Glycerol is formed in the rumen by hydrolysis of lipids from the feed. Glycerol is also a by-product from the production of biodiesel from rapeseed oil and other fat sources. Glycerol might be used as a dietary glucose precursor for dairy cows in similar ways as propylene glycol. Due to increased production of biodiesel more glycerol has been available to a lower price.

Elephants are hindgut fermenters, which affects their diurnal rhythm. To reach their nutrient demands, elephants must eat almost constantly throughout the light part of the day. Sexual dimorphism may also affect their behavioral patterns. To understand the elephants' normal living habits and foraging behaviour, we conducted a pre-study in the Mara Triangle, the north-western part of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Each of four to six observers randomly chose a focal animal within the group of elephants by the criteria that they were adults and visible.

Habituation to an automatic milking system (AMS) for cows in their first lactation differs from habituation to other milking systems. In AMS the cows are supposed to visit the milking station (MS) voluntarily. The milking takes place individually during the whole day, except when the milking system is cleaned. Milking is carried out without any human survey. The aim of the study was to describe the cow?s introduction in AMS in their first lactation.

The most suitable method to answer the issues of this study was to do a combined literature- and questionnaire study. The literature part of the study was based on Original Research articles, Review Articles and books with a list of reference literature after each chapter and the purpose was to answer the questions ?What feed items should be given to rabbits in different life stages? and ?Which problems may develop from an inadequate diet?? Two questionnaires were constructed. One was sent by e-mail to small animal veterinary hospitals to be answered anonymously by veterinary nurses. The other was linked to from two internet forums, that with rabbits as their focus.

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.

Distillers? grain is a by-product of ethanol production. Corn, wheat and barley are the grains that are generally used in the distillery process. Distillers? grain is rich in protein and phosphorus.

Ten cows suffering from displacement of abomasum (DA) were treated with two different electrolytesolutions. The DA cows showed symptoms typical for the disease. Four out of 10 cows had a metabolic alkalosis and two a metabolic acidosis. The cows were mildly hypocalcemic, and 9 out of 10 were mildly to moderately hypokalemic. Six out of 10 cows showed muscle fasciculations.

Swedish goats are mainly held for cheese production and therefore, both milk quality and composition are of great importance for dairymen. Today, only few data exists on milk composition from Swedish dairy goats and the casein content is still unknown. One way to reduce the work load for goat farmers and increase animal welfare can be to keep goats and kids together for longer periods. The aims of this study were to investigate how milk yield and composition were affected when kids suckled their dams during 8 weeks, and to measure the casein content on farm level by a mid-infrared spectroscopy method, previously calibrated for goat milk. Lactating goats were kept in two different MIX- systems where the dams are both suckled and milked.

The purpose with the study was to find a pattern in the behaviour of dairy cows which could be related to their social rank. A behavioural study was conducted at the University Cattle Research Centre (Kungsängen) in Uppsala, Sweden. The study included 12 Lactating dairy cows, 6 high ranked and 6 low ranked. The cows were housed in a loose housing barn with an automatic milking system (AMS) to which they had access 24 hours a day. During the experiment the total number of cows in the barn was 46.

When facing the fact that high yielding dairy cows has an increasing energy requirements, the practice of adding lipid supplements such as concentrates rich in palm oil and/or palm oil industry by-products become more common. Palm oil containing high levels of C16:0 causes high levels of free fatty acids (FFA) which are linked to larger milk fat globules (MFG) which affect the reaction of lipolysis resulting in rancid flavour and processing problems. Instead of using palm oil, rapeseed oil rich in C18:1 C18:2 can be used. In order to evaluate the effect of added C18:0 and C16:0 on milk lipolysis, 30 Swedish Red Lactating dairy cows including 15 multiparous (MP) and 15 primiparous (PP) cows were randomly divided in three groups resulting in 3 10 cow-groups (5 PP and 5 MP cows per group) and fed one out of three concentrate mixtures: control (C), a standard concentrate mixture with no fat added; palmitate (P) as C plus the addition of palmitate methyl ester (10 % in DM basis); and stearate (St) as C plus the addition of stearate methyl ester (10 % in DM basis). Milk yield was registered, and milk samples were collected and analysed for milk composition, FFA content and size of MFG.