The Mind of God

A radically dualist view of the relationship between God and the universe is apt to make the problem of Divine intervention more difficult than under other metaphysical conceptions. We need to find a closer relationship than this if the causal picture is to work. We could try saying that God is realized by the universe, without being reducible to the universe. He has no further substance over and above that of the universe, but he is not simply identical to the universe. I am not sure I know what this idea of realization comes to for the case of God and the universe, but it least it promises to make it feasible for God to be enmeshed in the natural causal order, without collapsing into it. It is not so much that God intervenes as supervenes, to use the jargon. On this picture, there is a mega- universe that includes both the physical universe and God, with the two locked somehow together

Untersuchung zur elektronischen Tierkennzeichnung bei Ziegen

Bedingt durch die Einführung der elektronischen Tierkennzeichnung wurde eine Untersuchung mit vier verschiedenen Ohrmarken (Caisley, Hauptner Herberholz, Babyohrmarke von Hauptner Herberholz, Schlaufenohrmarke Shearwell) von Ende Januar bis November 2010 mit 115 Ziegenlämmern durchgeführt. Die o.g. Ohrmarken wurden zeitnah nach der Geburt eingezogen. In einer Variante wurden auch Ohrmarken (Caisley und Hauptner Herberholz) im Alter von neun Monaten appliziert

Erprobung eines Systems zur automatischen Verhaltenerfassung von Ziegenlämmern bei der „Beweidung“ von Futtergehölzen

To assess animal behaviour of goat kids on pasture, a real time positioning system, Ubisense 7000, was installed mobile and outdoors. One major goal of the study was to analyse time goat kids spent in functional areas like pasture, fodder hedges or hutch, the other goal was the feasibility of the positioning system regarding positioning of goats on pasture. Results show, that grazing periods happen even during the night, whereas fodder hedges were used only during daytime. Accuracy of the positioning concerning Euclidian geometry was around 15 cm, which is according manufacturer’s data

Untersuchung zur Verträglichkeit der elektronischen Tierkennzeichnung bei Ziegenlämmern ab der Geburt

Die dargestellte Studie ist ein Teilprojekt, in dem im Rahmen der elektronischen Tierkennzeichnung bei Ziegenlämmern zeitnah nach der Geburt vier verschiedene Ohrmarkentypen und deren Abheilung nach der Applikation sowie deren Verlustraten über einen Zeitraum von acht Wochen untersucht wurden. Die elektronischen und visuellen Ohrmarken sind für den Einsatz bei Ziegenlämmern sehr gut geeignet. Es sind nur wenigen und leichte Entzündungen aufgetreten

Wissensstandanalyse zur Tiergesundheit ausgewählter Nutz-tierarten im Ökologischen Landbau

This research report is about animal health in organic farming. It has been intended for providing recommendations for future research in order to optimize organic farming. An evaluative review and assessment of searchable publications, which cover the period from 1991 to 2011, national as well as international, has been conducted. A total of recorded 569 publications on animal health in livestock production were found. This included articles on general topics (42 publications), on cattle (211), on pigs (181), on poultry (100), on small ruminants (25) and on other species (10). There is a lack of research to examine a practical realisation (n = 124). In organic cattle farming the subject of mastitis has been edited very often. Problems such as lameness, metabolic disorders or calves' diseases were studied subordinately. Mortality of piglets, poor body condition of sows after weaning, parasites and other difficulties in consequence of free-range-systems are described frequently. Articles concerning health in poultry farming attend mostly to feather pecking and hygienic problems due to the free-range system. Status information of animal health of minor species is described rarely. After all, the problems of animal health in organic and in conventional farming are comparable. In general, an implementation-oriented and at once high-quality scientific research is needed to optimize the conditions for animal health and animal welfare in organic farming

Untersuchungen zur Beäsung von Futterhecken mit Ziegenlämmern

In der Untersuchung zur Beäsung von Futterhecken mit Ziegenlämmern wurden in drei Futterhecken, die in den Jahren zuvor unterschiedlich gepflegt wurden, Fraßhorizont, Biomassevolumen, Blatt- und Rindenverbiss bestimmt

Dschungel unter den Füßen Unterirdisches Leben bestimmt das Funktionieren von Agrarökosystemen

This work demonstrates that soil biodiversity plays an important role in agroecosystems. The presence of an enriched soil community in large outdoor lysimeters enhanced plant yield and reduced nutrient leaching losses. Moreover, soil biodiversity loss and simplification of soil communities reduced ecosystem multifunctionality. Further analysis revealed that promotion of soil biodiversity and soil ecological engineering can help to reduce the reliance on external inputs and is especially suitable for a transition to organic agriculture. This work points to the need to support soil life for a sustainable agriculture

Die postmortale Gewebespende

Highlights: • Größtes Datenkollektiv zur Einflussnahme auf die postmortale Gewebespende seit dem Organspendeskandal 2012 • Einflussfaktoren auf die Zustimmung oder Ablehnung zur postmortalen Gewebespende durch die nächsten Angehörigen des Verstorbenen • Schlüsselfaktoren für eine erfolgreiche Zustimmungsquote im Bereich der postmortalen Gewebespende • Exemplarische Darstellung des Ablaufs einer postmortalen Gewebespende in einem der größten rechtsmedizinischen Institute in Süddeutschlan

Feed less Food - Minimaler Kraftfuttereinsatz verbessert die Fettsäuremuster bei ökologisch gehaltenen Milchziegen

More than a third of the world's grain harvest is used to feed animals. According to the environmental agency of the UN, losses of calories by bad conversion factor of grain into animal food could theoretically feed 3.5 billion people. This shows that the production of animal protein is very energy consuming, especially when concentrates are fed to ruminants. Until today feeding of ruminants even in organic dairy farming is based on concentrates, accepting overexploitation of resources and negative effects on animal health. In contrast to the received opinion of “a lot helps lot”, organic dairy production in Western Europe is trying to do the very reverse: Feeding less concentrates. This is in line with the evolution of ruminants to an excellent roughage converter, especially dairy goats are destined to produce high quality milk at a minimum amount of concentrates in their ration. In our study we wanted to evaluate effects of a low concentrate diet of maximum 10 % of the total annual dry matter intake per dairy goat (KF10) compared to a 40 % diet (KF40). As was expected, milk yield of KF10-group was lower, but fatty acid composition was more valuable using less concentrates. Omega-3 fatty acid and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) were found to be significantly higher in the milk of the KF10 dairy goat group throughout the whole lactation. Thus, less can be more in terms of quality and taste

FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF ORGANIC GOAT KID MEAT FROM DAIRY GOAT AND CROSSBRED MEAT GOAT KIDS

In contrast to the increasing demand for dairy goat products in Germany, a market for goat kid meat as a related product does not exist. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop a concept for organic goat kid meat production for dairy goat farms. In collaboration with a wholesaler, organic dairy goat farmers and marketing research the experimental part of this study was to find out if cross-breeding of meat-goats could improve meat quality and performance of fattening goat kids together with other factors like concentrate ratio of the diet, genotype, sex, housing vs. pasture as well as raising strategy during milk feeding period. Our results indicate that even a low input level of concentrates (10 % of total dry matter intake per goat kid and year) is sufficient to achieve the requested carcass weight of 12 kg at slaughter when goat kids are kept on pasture. Dressing percentage in both experimental years was affected by concentrate level, the more concentrates (40 %) the higher dressing percentage. Comparing years 2011 and 2012, dressing percentage was 4 % higher in 2012 for both concentrate levels. Daily weight gain per kid ranged from 122 to 133 g/d significantly influenced by concentrate level and sex, in 2011 as well by genotype. A low concentrate level (KF10) resulted in higher contents of Omega 3 fatty acids, male KF10-goat kids had highest omega 3 content of 1.19 g/100 fatty acid. The raising of “Capretto” type kids for slaughter indicated, that artificial rearing of kids using cow milk is beneficial compared to mother bonded rearing. Results indicated, that rearing and fattening of goat kids even under low input production levels on pasture can be realized und will produce higher meat qualities regarding fatty acid composition