Development of a dairy farm : carousel or robot?

Inga och Elvier köpte Komstagården som ligger på Österlen år 1956 och gården har sedan dess utvecklats mycket. De började med att mjölka 20 stycken uppbundna kor och innan de gjorde arvsskiftet till deras döttrar, Eva och Katrin, så var de uppe i 60 stycken kor i lösdrift som mjölkades i mjölkningsstall. Eva köpte ut sin syster Katrin 1998 och Evas man Roland steg in som delägare. Ganska fort därefter förlängdes kostallet och de dubblade koantalet till 120 stycken i samband med ett köp av mark. På mitten av 2000-talet byggde Eva och Roland sitt befintliga stall som idag är ett robotstall med 5 stycken robotar och 350 stycken kor. Nu står gården inför ännu ett generationsskifte och funderingar kring en utveckling av gården har börjat ta form hos familjen. Målet med vårt arbete är att utveckla en lösning som passar större gårdar. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilket mjölkningssystem som passar bäst på Komstagården. Metoden vi använt oss av för att besvara frågeställningarna är dels en litteraturstudie och dels studiebesök. Vi har använt oss av internet och olika söktjänster för att få fram information till vår litteraturstudie. Sedan har vi genomfört besök och intervjuer på fyra olika gårdar för att samla ett empiriskt material att grunda svaret på till våra frågeställningar. I litteraturstudien har vi inriktat oss på att ta fram för- och nackdelar med robot respektive karusell. Intressant fakta som framkommit är att bakterietalet är högre de första åren på en gård som satt in robot för första gången. Det har också visat sig att det finns mycket och tydlig information på vilka sätt roboten ger mindre arbetsskador. Dock finns det en hel del hjälpmedel man kan använda sig av i ett manuellt mjölkningssystem. Ur en ekonomisk synvinkel är det billigare både ur investerings- och arbetskraftskraftskostnad att bygga karusell om det skall vara över 260 kor, men arbetstiden, (minut per ko och dag), är ändå högre i ett system med manuellmjölkning. Det är svårare att hitta svensk arbetskraft till karusellmjölkning eftersom det är ett arbete med fler tyngre moment än vid robotmjölkning. Det är tyngre arbetsmoment och genererar fler arbetsskador när man mjölkar manuellt. Det har varit knappt med fakta inom karusellmjölkning och därför önskar vi att det skulle komma fler försök inom detta fält. Detta eftersom vi tror att karusellmjölkning kommer öka i Sverige i med gårdarna blir allt större. Tittar man utanför Sverige är det karusellmjölkning som dominerar på de stora gårdarna. Vi har tagit fram en ritning med hjälp av Fredrik Fredbo, DeLaval AB. En stallösning som vi tror skulle fungera, utifrån våra egna önskemål, erfarenheter och i samråd med resten av familjen på Komstagården (Bilaga 4). Vi har kommit fram till att bästa mjölkningssystemet för Komstagården är karusell, detta mycket på grund av familjens strävan efter en mer lättstyrd och hanterbar produktion. De lite tyngre arbetsmomenten på gården, som en karusell kommer medföra, kommer utländskarbetskraft att sköta. Medan förhoppningen om de övriga arbetsmomenten kommer fortsätta att skötas av svenskarbetskraft. För att få till ett bra djurflöde på gården med den nya karusellen, kommer det bli två parallella stall med karusellen strategisk placerad för att vara lättåtkomlig för alla kogrupper.Inga and Elvier bought Komstagården (south east Skåne) in 1956 and the farm has evolved a lot since then. They started off with 20 milkingcows and before the business was inherited by their daughters, Eva and Katrin, the herd had reached 60 cows, which were milked in the parlour. Katrin left the business in 1998, and Eva's husband Roland replaced her in the company. Quite soon thereafter they were able to extend the facilities and doubled the number of cows to 120. In the mid-00s they built a stable with 5 robots and 350 cows. Now it is time to pass the business on to the next generation so a reflection on development of the farm has begun in the family. The goal of our work is to develop a solution for large farms. The purpose of the study is to study what the milking system (robot or rotary parlour) that best suits the Komstagården. We have used internet and various search engines for obtaining information in addition to our literature. Then we have also conducted visits and interviews with four different farms to accumulate empirical material as to establish realistic answers to our questions. In the literature, we have focused on the pros and cons of robot in comparison to rotary parlour. An interesting fact is that the bacterial count is higher during the first years of robot milking. It has also been proven that there is clear evidence the robot milking gives less labour correlated injuries. However, there are a lot of helping tools you can use in a manual milking system. Based on the literature it is cheaper to build a rotary parlour if you have more than 260 cows and the costs for labour are also lower. But working time is higher (1,77 minutes/cow and day) in manual milking in a rotary parlour compared to automatic milking in a robot. It is also difficult to find the Swedish labour for milking in rotary parlours because it is a monotonous work with more heavy elements than in robotic milking. Therefore it generates more work related injuries when milking manually. It has shown to be very few studies about the rotary milking systems and we wish that it would come more results soon because we believe that rotary milking will increase in Sweden as the dairy herds on the farms is increasing. We have developed a blueprint for our wishes with the help of Fredrik Fredbo at DeLaval AB. In a solution that we think would work, based on our own experience and in consultation with the rest of the family at Komstagården (se bilaga 4). Based on the conditions at Komstagårdens our conclusions are that it is best to build a rotary milking parlour when increasing the dairy herd to 700 cows. Manuel milking will also give relief from the mental stress with a milking robot. The disadvantage with this concept will probably be finding Swedish labour. We believe that Komstagården will be forced to hire workers from other European countries

Intervention with feedback using Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45) in a Swedish psychiatric outpatient population. A randomized controlled trial.

Aim: The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45) with feedback in a Swedish psychiatric outpatient population using a randomized controlled design. Method: In all 1720 patients made at least one regular visit to the clinics in the period 12 February 2007 to 10 February 2008 and received information about the study. Of these, 374 patients (22%) agreed to participate. After written consent, 188 patients were randomized to the feedback group and 186 patients to the control group. Those constituted the intention-to-treat (ITT) group. Two hundred and sixty-two patients (70%) completed the OQ-45 questionnaire at least twice, and they were included in the per-protocol analysis. Those who improved less than expected and were at risk for treatment failure were called alerted patients. Results: There was a tendency that patients who received feedback improved more than the controls in OQ-45 total score. In the ITT analysis, the P-value was 0.061 and the effect size g = 0.21. In the per-protocol analysis the P-value was 0.076 and the effect size g = 0.24. In the intervention group, 27% of the patients were alerted because of risk of treatment failure vs. 28% in the control group (reaching level of alertness). The OQ-45 differences between the intervention and control groups did not significantly differ for patients who were alerted/reaching level of alertness and for non-alerted patients (g = 0.17 and g = 0.28, respectively). Conclusions: The feedback group had a tendency to improve more than the control group, possibly indicating that the method is effective, and the result (basically) supports previous findings

Digital dermatitis in Swedish dairy herds assessed by ELISA targeting Treponema phagedenis in bulk tank milk

Background Digital dermatitis (DD) is a contagious hoof infection affecting cattle worldwide. The disease causes lameness and a reduction in animal welfare, which ultimately leads to major decreases in milk production in dairy cattle. The disease is most likely of polymicrobial origin with Treponema phagedenis and other Treponema spp. playing a key role; however, the etiology is not fully understood. Diagnosis of the disease is based on visual assessment of the feet by trained hoof-trimmers and veterinarians, as a more reliable diagnostic method is lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on bulk tank milk samples testing for the presence of T. phagedenis antibodies as a proxy to assess herd prevalence of DD in Swedish dairy cattle herds. Results Bulk tank milk samples were collected in 2013 from 612 dairy herds spread across Sweden. A nationwide DD apparent prevalence of 11.9% (8.1-14.4% CI95%) was found, with the highest proportion of test-positive herds in the South Swedish regions (31.3%; 19.9-42.4% CI95%). Conclusions This study reveals an underestimation of DD prevalence based on test results compared to hoof trimming data, highlighting the critical need for a reliable and accurate diagnostic method. Such a method is essential for disease monitoring and the development of effective control strategies. The novelty of ELISA-based diagnostic methods for DD, coupled with the disease's polymicrobial origin, suggests an avenue for improvement. Developing an expanded ELISA, incorporating antigens from various bacterial species implicated in the disease, could enhance diagnostic accuracy. The significance of this study is underscored by the extensive analysis of a substantial sample size (612). Notably, this investigation stands as the largest assessment to date, evaluating the application of ELISA on bulk tank milk for DD diagnosis at the herd level

Bacteria Penetrate the Inner Mucus Layer before Inflammation in the Dextran Sulfate Colitis Model

Protection of the large intestine with its enormous amount of commensal bacteria is a challenge that became easier to understand when we recently could describe that colon has an inner attached mucus layer devoid of bacteria (Johansson et al. (2008) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 15064-15069). The bacteria are thus kept at a distance from the epithelial cells and lack of this layer, as in Muc2-null mice, allow bacteria to contact the epithelium. This causes colitis and later on colon cancer, similar to the human disease Ulcerative Colitis, a disease that still lacks a pathogenetic explanation. Dextran Sulfate (DSS) in the drinking water is the most widely used animal model for experimental colitis. In this model, the inflammation is observed after 3-5 days, but early events explaining why DSS causes this has not been described.When mucus formed on top of colon explant cultures were exposed to 3% DSS, the thickness of the inner mucus layer decreased and became permeable to 2 microm fluorescent beads after 15 min. Both DSS and Dextran readily penetrated the mucus, but Dextran had no effect on thickness or permeability. When DSS was given in the drinking water to mice and the colon was stained for bacteria and the Muc2 mucin, bacteria were shown to penetrate the inner mucus layer and reach the epithelial cells already within 12 hours, long before any infiltration of inflammatory cells.DSS thus causes quick alterations in the inner colon mucus layer that makes it permeable to bacteria. The bacteria that reach the epithelial cells probably trigger an inflammatory reaction. These observations suggest that altered properties or lack of the inner colon mucus layer may be an initial event in the development of colitis

Cross-sectional associations between occupational factors and musculoskeletal pain in women teachers, nurses and sonographers

A. Technical measurements of the physical workload. (DOCX 18 kb

Fetal sex-specific differences in gestational age at delivery in pre-eclampsia : a meta-analysis

Background: Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a major pregnancy disorder complicating up to 8% of pregnancies. Increasing evidence indicates a sex-specific interplay between the mother,placenta and fetus. This may lead to different adaptive mechanisms during pregnancy. Methods: We performed an individual participant data meta-analysis to determine associations of fetal sex and PE, with specific focus on gestational age at delivery in PE. This was done on 219 575 independent live-born singleton pregnancies, with a gestational age at birth between 22.0 and 43.0 weeks of gestation, from 11 studies participating in a worldwide consortium of international research groups focusing on pregnancy. Results: Of the women, 9033 (4.1%) experienced PE in their pregnancy and 48.8% of the fetuses were female versus 51.2% male. No differences in the female/male distribution were observed with respect to term PE (delivered >= 37 weeks). Preterm PE (delivered <37 weeks) was slightly more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus than in pregnancies with a male fetus [odds ratio (OR) 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.21]. Very preterm PE (delivered <34 weeks) was even more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus as compared with pregnancies with a male fetus (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.17-1.59). Conclusions: Sexual dimorphic differences in the occurrence of PE exist, with preterm PE being more prevalent among pregnancies with a female fetus as compared with pregnancies with a male fetus and with no differences with respect to term PE.Peer reviewe

Identification of Regulatory Networks in HSCs and Their Immediate Progeny via Integrated Proteome, Transcriptome, and DNA Methylome Analysis

SummaryIn this study, we present integrated quantitative proteome, transcriptome, and methylome analyses of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and four multipotent progenitor (MPP) populations. From the characterization of more than 6,000 proteins, 27,000 transcripts, and 15,000 differentially methylated regions (DMRs), we identified coordinated changes associated with early differentiation steps. DMRs show continuous gain or loss of methylation during differentiation, and the overall change in DNA methylation correlates inversely with gene expression at key loci. Our data reveal the differential expression landscape of 493 transcription factors and 682 lncRNAs and highlight specific expression clusters operating in HSCs. We also found an unexpectedly dynamic pattern of transcript isoform regulation, suggesting a critical regulatory role during HSC differentiation, and a cell cycle/DNA repair signature associated with multipotency in MPP2 cells. This study provides a comprehensive genome-wide resource for the functional exploration of molecular, cellular, and epigenetic regulation at the top of the hematopoietic hierarchy