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

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

Herzfrequenzvariabilität als Stress-Indikator zur Bewertung zweier Absetzverfahren bei ökologisch aufgezogenen Ziegenlämmern

Weaning of goat kids is in many cases a psychic and physiological strain for both, kids and dams. Frequently goat kids suffer from a decline of performance, e. g. of weight gain. An alternative could be a gradually weaning considering colostral period of 1 week as well as feeding whole milk according EU-Organic-Farming regulation for a period of 45 days. The aim of the study was to compare abrupt weaning (ML) after 45 days of mother bonded rearing with restricted suckling (RL) three times per day before weaning. As a method to asses stress responses in goat kids, heart rate variability (HRV) was measured as basal values before and after weaning. The results show that the overall variability (SDNN) of heart rate variability (HRV) for RL was significantly lower at day of weaning compared to ML, as well as the parameters RMSSD and SD1