This thesis takes a critical examination of current theories of the emergence of reindeer herding, during the sixteenth and seventeenth century, amongst Sami communities in northern Sweden. This period coincides with the latter part of the Little Ice Age, a period of extremely variable climate in northern Europe, which has not been addressed in current theories of the emergence of herding. Using a bottom-up approach, gathering evidence of the nature of the environmental change and its impact on reindeer, human populations, and subsistence activities, it is suggested this had a profound effect on subsistence strategies. These impacts are considered in context to provide a multi-causal model of cultural change during this period. The evidence suggests that reindeer herding did not represent a radical and large-scale cultural change, and that Sami subsistence strategies do not fit neatly into categories of hunting or herding. The intensification of reliance on domestic reindeer emerged, from the preceding mixed economy, as a high-level buffering mechanism to cope with increased local environmental variability and a disruption In the wild reindeer popUlation, and was facilitated by interactions with the Swedish state through trade and taxation.

Farm Assurance Schemes have been developed in the UK to ensure the safety, quality and traceability of food and welfare of livestock to consumers. The standards of assessment may focus on the inputs (resources), such as husbandry conditions and management practices, and the outcome of those inputs on the animal. An approach of assessing outcome-based (animal-based) parameters, such as the physical condition or behaviour of animals, is, however, thought to be better than resource-based ones to identify animal welfare issues and help the farmers to identify potential husbandry problems. The aim of this research was to examine the usage and the limitations of animal-based measures in current Dairy Farm Assurance Schemes (F AS), and to evaluate the potential for a novel device for dairy cow lameness detection to be used within farm assurance schemes. The investigations involved a comparison of the use of outcome-based comments in the 449 Red Tractor Assurance (RTA) , the 37 Soil Association Organic Standards (SA) and the 26 Cross Compliance Requirement (CC) reports. The results showed that even though RTA contained the most objective evidence regardless of compliance or non-compliance decisions (around 65 comments made per farm report), the RTA reports contained fewer outcome comments (around 1.9 outcome-comments per farm report) than both SA (roughly 27.3comments made and 3.6 outcome-comments per farm report) and CC (nearly 2.3 comments made and 0.6 outcome-comments per farm report) reports (p<0.001). Even when there was an animal-based comment presented in the RTA reports, it was often ambiguous and not very specific to the animals. The five animal-based parameters which were included in the SA standards were compared with corresponding RTA farm reports and SA farm reports. However, the results showed that the parameters was independent from the non-compliance of the RTA reports (p=1.000) and the SA reports (p=0.963). This indicating the the five parameters included in the SA reports were not sufficiently influential to the certifying process. A qualitative study explored the benefits and, in pat1icular, the challenges that the on-farm assessors encountered when conducting the holistic animal-based assessments of the Welfare Quality® protocol. A total of 11 assessors participated in this study. Four assessors each had performed the Welfare Quality® laying hen protocol and the dairy cattle protocol. Three assessors had experience in carrying out Welfare Quality® pig protocol. Similar difficulties were raised by the assessors from different groups. The results showed that the duration of assessment was considered too long to fit into a routine assurance assessment timeframe. Moreover, the perceived subjectivity of some animal-based measurements was felt could compromise the acceptance of the assessors' judgement by farmers. In order to overcome the variability of subjective assessments, a novel device to detect dairy cow lameness, the infra-red thermometer, was studied. Higher mean foot temperature was able to be identified by the infrared thermometer with lame cows (roughly 25°C) than that of the sound cows (around 24°C) (p<0.001). Although the sensitivity and specificity of individual lameness identification was not good (sensitivity: 71.5%, specificity: 47.3%, with the AUG= 0.613), it was still capable of ranking lameness levels of the farms when operating on dry days (p=0.036). It has the potential to be a detecting device in an assurance scheme to provide objective evidence of lameness prevalence. It is suggested that by reducing the requirement for assessors to complete objective evidence for all questions, the quality of objective evidence for important questions such as relating to animal welfare or non-compliances, would be improved. In addition, the assessors would have more time to assess and engage with farmers about welfare issues, such as dairy cow lameness.

Veterinary graduates require skills in animal observation. The aim Of this mixed methods study was to develop and validate a new educational resource which improved animal observation skills amongst pre-clinical veterinary students. A new Computer Aided Learning (CAL) resource provided pre-clinical extra mural students (PC EMS) with an opportunity to practise animal welfare assessment and had six sections; an on-line lecture, a quiz, animal observation videos, a decision -making section, "test yourself" video clips and a concept map. The CAL was informed by Kolb's cycle of experiential learning. Validation of the CAL involved a detailed, quantitative blind assessment of the content of farm reports submitted by all students post-placement. The assessment criteria for the categories were based upon the Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. CAL training prior to farm placement improved the ability of students to assess and report animal welfare as part of their pre-clinical extra mural experience. A qualitative focus group also reported finding the CAL easy to use. Three successive years of students demonstrated improved reporting of animal based measurements for each of the five freedoms following CAL training. Students were found to employ a combination of objective (quantitative) and subjective (qualitative) measures when assessing animal welfare using the CAL. More than two-thirds of the students who completed a survey following the CAL reported that it was informative and a useful addition to the pre-existing PC EMS course. Furthermore, many students re used the CAL of their own volition following initial training. Collectively, these findings show that the new CAL improved students' ability to report animal based measurements when reviewing animal welfare and was viewed positively by many of its users. The CAL has formed part of the veterinary curriculum at the University of Bristol since its validation in 2010 and is currently readily available to other British veterinary schools.

The toxigenic fungal moulds Penicillium, Fusarium and Aspergillus have previously been identified in silages and these moulds, whose activity in feeds can be unevenly distributed, can produce the secondary metabolite mycotoxins. Mycotoxins can exert a range of detrimental effects on livestock including reproductive disorders, organ damage, immunosuppression and lameness. To accurately assess the risk posed to livestock by mycotoxins in feed, an UHPLC-MS/MS analytical method, capable of detecting 20 mycotoxins in a single assay and inclusive of all eight EU regulated mycotoxins, was developed, validated and successfully applied to silage samples. Constituents within silage can be unevenly distributed, and collecting a representative sample may thus be challenging. Therefore, the variability in conventional chemical and mycotoxins characteristics in the next-to-be-fed pit section or bale of silage was quantified and an assessment made of the intensity of sampling that was required. Collecting a representative core sample from silages for conventional chemical characteristics was feasible (2-4 cores), whereas representatively sampling for mycotoxin analysis could require an order of magnitude more intensive sampling, and this might not be practical in practice (e.g. up to 128 cores per bale for some mycotoxins). In contrast, intensive sampling of chopped and mixed silages from the feed trough produced both baled and pit silage samples that could be analysed to provide a reasonably reliable estimate of conventional chemical composition and, under the prevailing circumstances, of mycotoxins type and concentrations. This study also characterised the mycotoxin challenge presented to livestock by the next-to-be-fed pit section or bale of silage. Two separate surveys were conducted in January - February 2012 (pilot survey) and December 2012 - March 2014 (national survey) to identify and quantify the mycotoxin incidence and concentrations on the next-to-be-fed pit section or bale of silage. Fusarium-produced zearalenone was detected in the national survey study, although this was only in Year 2. The increased incidence of zearalenone in Year 2 coincides with the daily maximal monthly (July) air temperatures of 22°C, which is the optimal temperature for Fusarium fungal development. Zearalenone was detected in pit and baled grass silages and pit maize silage but only in a total of 1 % of national survey samples. The maximum zearalenone value recorded was 76 ug/kg DM and this was less than 4 % of the EU regulated threshold. The most common mycotoxins detected were the Fusarium-produced enniatins and beauvericin. These were most likely formed during crop growth (Le. pre-mowing). They were, however, found in all silage types and were at relatively low concentrations, with mean concentrations of individual enniatins ranging from 9.1 to 364 ug/kg OM. The incidence of these mycotoxins tended to be elevated when the harvested grass crops were produced over a more extended duration. They were thus associated with low silage DMD that was indicative of a crop harvested at a later, more advanced growth stage, and also with a later month of harvest. The post-mowing Penicillium-produced mycotoxins (andrastin A, mycophenolic acid and roqueforline C) were most commonly detected in baled grass silage, and although their overall incidence was low, there was a large range in their mean concentrations. For example,mycophenolic acid ranged from 287 to 11,157 ug/kgDM. Post-mowing mycotoxins in this study were positively related to the presence of visible mould colonies on silage bales and to the presence of rotted silage in pit silages.

No description available.

No description available.

This study combines a range of contemporary genetic analysis methods to analyse the Dexter cattle breed in conjunction with the development of a novel method of admixture determination. The Dexter was chosen for its heterogeneous genetic composition due to a complex population history. Comparison against other European cattle breeds showed the Dexter to be one of the most diverse breeds and clearly distinguishable from other breed populations. The levels of migrant individuals exchanged between the Dexter and other European breeds was seen to be in the middle of the range for all breeds, as was the conservation value of the Dexter as determined through the Weitzman genetic distance approach. The Dexter was shown to stand out from other European cattle breeds due to high levels of subdivision into different regions of the herd book. The hypothesis that the ancestry of subdivisions was entirely responsible for this genetic divergence could not be proven. The quantification of admixture proportions were made for two putative ancestral representative breeds, Red Devon and Kerry. It was found that a selection of carefully chosen Traditional Dexter individuals were more closely related to the Kerry breed. Admixture contributions for remaining breed populations were inconclusive with the exception of a small sample group representing the breed in America which demonstrated a higher Red Devon contribution. Genetic drift is heavily implicated in the results shown and it is notable that high levels of variance were associated with admixture contributions. An approximate Bayesian computation approach was designed and developed to better model the admixture scenario of interest. A method allowing for two admixture events was constructed in order to calculate parental contributions and compare them to simulated datasets according to a genetic model. Initial testing proved successful using a single admixture event. The addition of a second admixture event reduced the accuracy of the method. Testing scenarios of up to half a million simulations with nine loci were unable to successfully quantify either simulated or real admixture events here. Testing suggests that the effectiveness of the approach is thought to increase with numbers of simulated datasets used. Recommendations for the successful application of the method are made.

Two field experiments were conducted on a mixed species(Lolium perenne L., Poa annua L., Trifolium repens L.) sward, one in the summer and the other in the autumn of 1979. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between sward conditions and herbage production. This was done by estimating tissue fluxes in swards maintained as near as possible in a steady state with reference to herbage mass under continuous but variable stocking management with sheep. In the first experiment four separate swards were maintained at herbage mass levels of 500, 700, 1000 and 1700 kg 0M ha ^ for the period May to July inclusive. Tissue flows were estimated from measurements on individually identified grass tillers and clover stolons in the field and determinations of tiller and stolon population densities. Rates of herbage growth and senescence compensated each other in such a way that their resultant, net production, was relatively constant over the range of herbage mass from 800 to 1800 kg OM ha ^. Variations within and between treatments in the utilisation of the three plant species were attributable to the distribution of their foliage within the sward canopy. The herbage intake and intake per bite of the ewes increased with the level of herbage mass maintained, but the time the ewes spent grazing increased,reached a maximum in the 1000 kg OM ha-1 sward, and then declined as the level of maintained herbage mass was increased. In the second experiment, deliberate changes in herbage mass were induced in an attempt to increase the rate of net production above that obtainable in swards maintained at a constant herbage mass. Swards were maintained at either high (1700 kg OM ha HH) or low(700 kg OM ha?\ LL) herbage mass, or manipulated from one state to the other over a period of three weeks in August - September (HL and LH).Rates of growth and senescence compensated each other in such a way that net production was similar in the HH, LL, and LH swards, but inthe HL sward rates of herbage growth, senescence and net production were all reduced. A conceptual model of the sward-animal interface was developed,based upon the results of experiment 1, in which levels of green herbage mass control the rates of herbage growth and senescence,the level of herbage intake and the botanical composition of the diet. A simulation exercise based on this conceptual model was used to examine the implications of basing management decisions on herbage mass or a derivative such as lamina mass. This exercise indicated that lamina was likely to be more useful than herbage mass as the basis for decision making and highlighted the potential of tissue flow analysis as a means of evaluating alternative management systems.

Straw price increases due to biofuel demand have created a perceived need within the agricultural industry to investigate and develop alternative bedding materials for housing ruminant livestock. This thesis addresses the suitability of woodchip, as such an alternative, indoor bedding material for livestock, focusing particularly on management of the soiled bedding, its nutrient composition, its use as an agronomic resource and its economic viability within the Welsh farming sector. In all studies, straw was used as the benchmark to which the woodchip treatments were compared. Many studies have investigated the use of woodchip in out-winter pads (OWP), but the material’s indoor performance and in particular, its potential for re-use, is not well documented. Two independent housing trials, both including sheep and cattle, were conducted. The first trial (ADAS) assessed the effect of different initial woodchip moisture contents on the performance of the bedding material and its subsequent composting. The second trial (IGER) evaluated the effects of hay and silage diets on woodchip’s bedding and composting performance. The ADAS trial showed that woodchip’s absorbency capacity and physical shape were critical in determining its bedding and composting success. In comparison to differences determined by bedding materials and livestock characteristics, the IGER trial suggested that dietary inputs had little influence on the woodchip’s bedding and composting performance. Overall, the results indicate that composting of spent woodchip bedding was less effective than that of straw bedding, due to the lack of available N which limited microbial activity. The limited breakdown of the woodchips during composting, however, does potentially allow the re-use of the bedding materials for further housing cycles. Barley sown growth trials, amended with composted bedding materials showed that woodchip composts yielded reduced biomass in comparison to conventional NPK based fertilisers and straw bedding compost. When the coarse woody fraction of the compost was removed (>8 mm in diameter), leaving just the fine (< 8mm) nutrient-enriched fraction, plant growth performance was slightly enhanced at application rates equivalent to 100 t ha-1. Estimates of N loss from woodchip treatments were high during housing, but limited during composting due to a generic lack of available nutrients, compared to straw. Using economic modelling, a cost/benefit analysis of woodchip bedding versus straw showed that woodchip is more cost efficient than straw on the condition it is re-used. In summary, the thesis concludes that woodchip is a potentially viable alternative to straw bedding for Welsh farmers, on condition of specific management practices. Future work is required to identify and mitigate N losses during the woodchip bedding phase.

No description available.