Development of an advisory system that supports good animal welfare in organic production in Norway

Organic agriculture wishes to emphasise animal welfare, and aims to be at the forefront with regard to promoting the welfare of farm animals. It is therefore important to increase the expertise in the field of animal welfare in organic farming systems among veterinarians, advisers and farmers. An advisory service that includes on-farm assessment of animal welfare will contribute to securing a high level of animal welfare in organic production. To meet the need for information and expertise, an advisory and development project ”Good animal welfare in organic dairy farming” started in May 2003 and will last until the end of 2005. The project’s main goal is to develop and establish a permanent advisory service aimed at securing a high level of animal health and welfare in organic dairy farming

Cation-anion balance in organic silage in relation to prevention of milk fever

Studies of organic farms in Norway have documented that cows in organic herds are less prone to milk fever compared to the overall average incidence of milk fever in Norway. Milk fever occurs most frequently in high-yielding cows, fat cows and older cows. On average, cows on organic farms are lower yielding, but also older. Dry cow diets relatively high in the anion chloride (Cl–) and low in the cations potassium (K+) and sodium (Na+) can prevent milk fever. In organic farming no inorganic fertilisers are used. This may result in low content of K in the plants and with that a low content of K in the fodder. Often there also is greater diversity of plants (clover, herbs, “weeds”) in an organic meadow than in a conventional meadow. Plants vary in their uptake of different elements. One can therefore expect a different composition of minerals in organically produced fodder compared to fodder from conventionally managed fields. Therefore, the mineral content in fodder from eight organic farms and eight conventional control farms was examined to see if low frequency of milk fever is connected to the cation-anion balance (CAB) in the fodder. Seven cows were selected from each farm. Fodder given to the cows in the dry period was analysed for Na, K and Cl, and the botanical composition of the roughage were determined. The cows’ urinary pH was measured during the dry period, using pH-papers. The fodder was also analysed for other minerals (Ca, Mg, P, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mo) to get a broader picture of the ration. The cows’ body condition scores in the dry period were measured. The mean CAB in both the organic and conventional fodder was 366 mEq kg-1 DM, and the cows’ urinary pH was around 8.5. Based on results from this project we cannot see any connection between the lower frequency of milk fever in organic milk production and CAB in organic fodder. Not unexpectedly, the organic fodder contained more Ca and Mg. There was no difference in content of Fe, Cl, Na, K, P, Mn, Zn and Cu. Several fodder samples had more then 2% K of DM. The Ca/P ratio was high, together with a relatively low content of P. Both high K content and high Ca/P ratio together with low P content are connected to increasing risk for milk fever. The results from the mineral analysis of the fodder samples indicate an unfavourable mineral composition regarding milk fever in both conventionally and organically produced fodder

Welfare assessment as part of welfare planning in organic calf production

Animalwelfare is regarded as a basic parameter in organic beef– and milk production. It is important to focus on good animal welfare at all levels, also including calves. Experiences from former projects show that calf welfare often represents a problem in organic and conventional farms, depending on the farmer’s priorities, attitudes and knowledge. A CORE Organic project “Minimizing medicine use in organic dairy herds through animal health and welfare planning” (ANIPLAN) was initiated in 2008 and is a collaboration between seven European countries, including Norway. The aim of the Norwegian project group, lead by the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, was to develop a calf welfare assessment system, suitable for welfare advising and planning in organic milk production farms. The system focuses on animal based parameters, management, individual clinical score, colostrum intake and feeding system

An X-ray survey of variable radio bright quasars

A sample consisting primarily of radio bright quasars was observed in X-rays with the Einstein Observatory for times ranging from 1500 to 5000 seconds. Detected sources had luminosities ranging from 0.2 to 41.0 x 10 to the 45th power ergs/sec in the 0.5 to 4.5 keV band. Three of the fourteen objects which were reobserved showed flux increases greater than a factor of two on a time scale greater than six months. No variability was detected during the individual observations. The optical and X-ray luminosities are correlated, which suggests a common origin. However, the relationship (L sub x is approximately L sub op to the (.89 + or - .15)) found for historic radio variables may be significantly different than that reported for other radio bright sources. Some of the observed X-ray fluxes were substantially below the predicted self-Compton flux, assuming incoherent synchrotron emission and using VLBI results to constrain the size of the emission region, which suggests relativistic expansion in these sources. Normal CIV emission in two of the sources with an overpredicted Compton component suggests that although they, like BL Lac objects, have highly relativistic material apparently moving at small angle to the line of sight, they have a smaller fraction of the continuum component in the beam

Studies of genes potentially involved in the induction of flowering in Festuca pratensis (Huds.)

Many plants in northern regions require a period of low temperatures and short days (called vernalisation) during the winter season to initiate the flowering process. In this experiment, some genes thought to be involved in vernalisation response and induction of flowering in meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) has been investigated. The genes were chosen based on their possible contribution in the transition from vegetative to reproductive phase in cereals. The investigations were predominantly gene expression studies on vernalised and non-vernalised plant material from genotypes that are able to flower without vernalisation and genotypes with vernalisation requirement. These experiments were done using RT-PCR with cDNA from the different plant genotypes as templates. VRN1, a positive regulator of flowering in cereals, was up regulated by vernalisation in F. pratensis. The results also showed a connection between VRN1 expression and vernalisation requirement. Genotypic differences have been identified in the VRN1 promoter or intron 1 in cereals with differences in vernalisation requirement. These areas are suggested to contain binding sites for repressors of VRN1. The first 1kb of F. pratensis VRN1 intron 1 was sequenced and shown to be identical in the two parents of our mapping population (with different vernalisation requirement). The expression of the putative flowering repressor, MADS16, seemed to be down regulated by vernalisation in the plants that required vernalisation to flower. The plants that were able to flower without vernalisation had a MADS16 expression un-affected by vernalisation. Some investigations were also done on VRN2 (a putative repressor of VRN1 expression), PHYC (a photoreceptor), RUBQ2 (ubiquitin) and CONSTANS (a positive regulator of flowering in Arabidopsis)

Vurdering av regel om diing i tre dagar

Bakgrunnen for denne vurderinga er spørsmålstillinga i Høringsnotat fra Mattilsynet datert 26.3.2010 – Forslag til nye regler om økologisk produksjon og merking av økologiske produkter: ”Bør kravet om at kalven skal kunne die fra mora minst tre dager etter fødselen videreføres, jf. §15 i forslaget til ny forskrift? Hvis ikke, bør det stilles andre krav til forhold rundt behandling av kalver og diing?”. Vurderinga er gjennomført på oppdrag frå Regelverksutvalget for økologisk produksjon, som ønska ei grundig vurdering av fordelar og ulemper knyta til §15 i samband med høringa. Vurderinga er basert på litteratur om temaet og svar frå spørjeundersøking om diing som vart sendt vinteren 2009/2010 til alle økologiske mjølkeprodusentar. Spørjeundersøkinga var knyta til eit kunnskapsutviklingsprosjekt ved Bioforsk Økologisk og Ku-kalv-prosjektet leia av Veterinærinstituttet, finansiert av MATFONDAVTALEN. Ved å la kalven få die morkua tilfredstiller ein dyra sin naturlege åtferd, noko som er ein viktig del av dyras velferd i eit økologisk driftsopplegg. Det kan sjå ut som om kalvar som har dia blir meir robuste kviger som tilpasser seg lettare i ei gruppe også etter fråvenning. Mange studiar viser at tilveksten til kalvar aukar ved diing samanlikna med bøttefôring, og særleg ved diing over lenger tid. Det er også sett at mjølka kalven dier er feitare og har høgare innhald av omsetteleg energi. Det er fleire positive helsegevinstar for kalven knyta til å gå saman med morkua, samtidig som ein skal vere forsiktig med diing dersom ein har ein smittsam sjukdom eller bakterieinfeksjon i besetninga. Diing vil også vere ein naturleg måte å tildele mjølk på, både i tal måltid og ved at dei får suge i seg mjølka over lengre tid. Diing vil kunne gi auka total mjølkeproduksjon, og vil kunne gi betre jurhelse. Det er tydeleg at fråskiljing av kalven ved tre dagar eller seinare er stressande for både morku og kalven. I tillegg er det ei utfordring i mange fjøs å få plass til at ku og kalv skal gå saman dei første dagane, særleg om ein har båsfjøs og konsentrert kalving. Fri tilgang til mjølk til kalvar har vore forbunde med lågt opptak av grovfôr og kraftfôr, og dermed dårlegare utvikling av vomma. Det ser derimot ikkje ut til at diing gir dårlegare utvikling av vomma til kalven. Når kalven får råmjølk berre ved å die mora er det ein risiko for at kalven får i seg for lite råmjølk, og dermed blir lettare sjuke. Ved å gi kalven ein ekstra dose råmjølk i tillegg til diing i løpet av dei første timane, eller ha nøye oppfølging på anna måte, vil ein sikre at kalven får i seg nok råmjølk og kalvane vil kunne halde seg sunne og friske. Det er ein del utfordringar ved å praktisere diing, men mange av utfordringane kan ein møte ved praktisk tilrettelegging. Den største utfordringa ser ut til å være stress ved fråskiljinga av ku og kalv. Det er derfor viktig at det blir sett på gode metodar for å redusere stressnivået til både ku og kalv, noko som mellom anna forskingsprosjektet ”Developing robust and economically viable models for cow-calf suckling in organic dairy systems, fulfilling high standards for animal health, welfare and ethics” (Ku-kalv-prosjektet), leia av Veterinærinstituttet, skal jobbe med. Vurderinga konkluderer med at kravet om diing bør vidareførast. Ein bør derimot vurdere krav om ekstra tilførsel av råmjølk rett etter fødsel i tillegg til diing, for å sikre at kalven får tatt opp nok av dei viktige immunstoffa som særleg er i den første råmjølka. Når ein etter kvart får resultat frå Ku-kalv-prosjektet bør ein vurdere om det er forskingsresultat som tilseier at regelen om tre dagars diing bør takast opp til vurdering igjen, og om ein bør sette krav knyta til fråskiljinga mellom ku og kalv

Abell 754: A Non-Head On Collision of Subclusters

We have analyzed spatially resolved spectra of A754 obtained with ASCA. The combination of spectral and imaging capabilities of ASCA has set unprecedented constraints on the hydrodynamical effects of a cluster merger. We find significant gas temperature variations over the cluster face, indicating shock heating of the atmosphere during the merger. The hottest region, >12 keV, is located in the region of the Northwest galaxy clump though the entire region along the cluster axis appears to be hotter than the mean cluster temperature (~9 keV). The cool, ~5 keV gas originally found with the HEAO1-A2 experiment, resides in the exterior of the cluster atmosphere and in plume of gas we identify with a stripped cool atmosphere of the infalling subcluster. We have also attempted to reconstruct an iron abundance map of this merging system. Though poorly constrained, no significant deviations of abundance from the mean value are apparent in the individual regions. A754 is the only cluster so far which shows the significant temperature pattern expected in a subcluster merger, in both the ROSAT (Henry & Briel 1995) and ASCA data, providing the first possibility to compare it with theoretical predictions. The observed temperature and surface brightness maps suggest that the two colliding subunits have missed each other by about 1 Mpc, and are now moving perpendicular to the cluster axis in the image plane (as, e.g., in the simulations by Evrard etal 1996).Comment: Latex, 10 pages, 3 figures incl. color plate, uses aaspp4.sty, flushrt.sty and pstricks.sty. Submitted to ApJ Letter

RXTE Hard X-ray Observation of A754: Constraining the Hottest Temperature Component and the Intracluster Magnetic Field

Abell 754, a cluster undergoing merging, was observed in hard X-rays with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in order to constrain its hottest temperature component and search for evidence of nonthermal emission. Simultaneous modeling of RXTE data and those taken with previous missions yields an average intracluster temperature of $\sim 9$ keV in the 1-50 keV energy band. A multi-temperature component model derived from numerical simulations of the evolution of a cluster undergoing a merger produces similar quality of fit, indicating that the emission measure from the very hot gas component is sufficiently small that it renders the two models indistinguishable. No significant nonthermal emission was detected. However, our observations set an upper limit of $7.1 \times 10^{-14} ergs/(cm^2 s keV)$ (90% confidence limit) to the nonthermal emission flux at 20 keV. Combining this result with the radio synchrotron emission flux we find a lower limit of 0.2 $\mu$G for the intracluster magnetic field. We discuss the implications of our results for the theories of magnetic field amplifications in cluster mergers.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 22 pages, 5 figure

Improving the Tenure Committee's Review Efficiency with Embedded Dossier Functionality

Numerous manuscripts have been published addressing perceptions of the promotion and tenure process. Very little has been published on mechanism to improve the efficiency of dossier review or tools to assist the reviewer in understanding the comprehensive scope of the applicant’s experiences. An innovative dossier format was utilized to assess the hyperlinks and pop-up tool tips would enhance the reviewer efficiency when reviewing the applicant’s materials. Super scripted numbers at the end of the narrative’s sentences, in the same manner as a journal article, contained the embedded hyperlinks and pop-up tool tips. A majority of the reviewers found the embedded functionality in the dossier did enhance their efficiency in completing the review.   Type: Case Stud