Welcome to the September 2007 newsletter from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus.

This issue contains news about a scientific sensation: the birth of the world’s first cloned, transgenic pigs containing a gene for Alzheimer’s disease.

You can also read about a new outdoor milking robot that makes life easy for grazing dairy cattle, new standards for manure that demonstrate the effect on the environment of reducing protein levels in animal feed, and work being done to reduce weed problems in organic carrots.

In addition, you can find a link that allows you to follow our reporter’s two week sojourn to the Far East.

You are welcome to use the articles from the newsletter in other media.

Please feel free to recommend the newsletter to others.

Pigs programmed to forget

With the aid of trailblazing biotechnology seven piglets have now seen the light of day with the prospect of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The goal is to glean knowledge about the disease with the aim of preventing and treating it in humans.

Automatic milking moves outdoors

World premiere: Robot milking of dairy cows directly in the field

New manure standards available

The latest updated information regarding farm animal manure is now available on the internet. The tables show the manure’s nutrient content and the amounts of manure that the animals produce.

Fewer weeds and diseases in organic carrots

Scientists and farmers are joining forces to promote further development of environmentally friendly and labour-saving methods for growing organic carrots.

New rules with greater consideration for fur animal welfare

The new fur animal departmental order includes several new regulations regarding breeding, production and housing of mink and foxes. Some of the rules are based on well-documented research results regarding animal behaviour.

Large mink produce fewer kits

Large mink dams tend to produce smaller litters and fewer weaned kits. This is a dilemma for the mink farmer since both size and fertility are important breeding goals.