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Sweet Stem Farm - Farming glossary Category: Agriculture and Industry > Farming terms Date & country: 20/01/2014, USA Words: 187

Wool break
distinct weakness in one part of the fleece, often brought on by illness or malnutrition.

Yearling
an animal that is one year old.

Wool blind
a sheep with wool covering its eyes rendering it almost blind.

Withdrawal period
time period between administration of a medical treatment and when the treatment has worked its way out of the animal's system.

Wether
a castrated male sheep.

White muscle disease
disease that causes degeneration of the skeletal and cardiac muscles of lambs and less commonly kids. Caused by deficiency of selenium and/or Vitamin E. Symptoms include stiffness of the hindquarters and arched backs. Affected lambs usually die of pneumonia, starvation, or heart failure. Can be treated with selenium if caught early. Prevention with selenium and vitamin E in the salt/mineral mix is effective.

Watery mouth
also known as slavery mouth, slavers and rattle belly. A bacterial infection of lambs, resulting from the newborn not receiving enough colostrum shortly after birth. This disease is far more common in twins and triplets than in lambs born as singles. Affected lambs are dull, not feeding and have wet lips sometimes with long strings of saliva hanging from their mouths. If picked up and lightly shaken their stomachs often make a characteristic rattle. As the disease progresses, lambs become hypothermic, dehydrated and eventually die from endotoxic shock. Difficult to treat. Adequate intake of colostrum is critical for prevention.

Warm season grasses
grasses that are most productive during the summer and become dormant or die after frost in the fall.

Urinary calculi or water belly
a metabolic disease of male sheep and goats resulting from mineral deposits in the urinary tract. These deposits gradually form stones that get stuck in the narrow urethra of male animals causing a full or partial blockage. Retention of urine is evidenced by kicking at the abdomen, stamping the back feet, straining to pee, dribbling urine, stretching, and frequent getting up and lying down. Eventually, if left untreated, the bladder bursts, urine drains into the body cavity, and the animal will die of septicemia.

Vector
an organism that transmits a pathogen.

Terminal sire
a sire whose offspring will not be kept for breeding purposes, but will go to market for slaughter.

Tetanus or lockjaw
an acute infectious, non

Top knot
wool from the forehead or poll of a sheep.

Tubing or stomach
tubing

Tup
an alternative term for ram.

Two
tooths

Ulceration
having a break in a bodily membrane that results in open sores and inflammation.

Teaser
vasectomized (sterile) ram introduced to the ewe flock to induce estrus. A teaser ewe can be introduced to rams to stimulate semen production for collection.

Sus scrofa domesticus
domsetic swine.

Swine
any of the various members of the family Suidae including wild boar, warty pigs, the Giant forest hogs, bush pigs, Red River hogs, domestic swine, etc.

Swine flu
an acute, highly contagious, respiratory disease of pigs. Classic porcine strains of flu virus do not easily spread to human populations. Novel H1N1 however, has caused human deaths in immunocompromised individuals. Outbreaks in pigs are most common in fall and winter when viruses of all kinds have increased survivability. The disease spreads rapidly through a herd mainly by pig

Steer
castrated male.

Stock
livestock.

Straw
stems of certain species of grain, chiefly wheat, rye, oats, and barley, baled dry and used for bedding livestock.

Stripping
massaging the udder and pulling on the teats in order to get milk flowing by removing the wax plug from the teat canal.

Subcutaneous (SubQ)
an injection given under the skin.

Springer
a visibly pregnant heifer during her first gestation.

Stable fly
biting fly that is a pest of livestock kept in barns. Usually bites animals and people on lower legs and ankles. Lays eggs in damp, decomposing organic matter.

Stag
a male that was castrated late after the developement of some or all of the secondary sex characteristics (also less commonly known as a rig).

Stag
a ram castrated after about 6 months of age.

Sow
adult female.

Sort chute or race
a narrow

Solid mouth or full mouth
a sheep that is up to 4 years old. All adult teeth are in place.

Slink
a very young lamb.

Sire
a male parent.

Shepherd's crook
a staff with a hook at one end, used to catch sheep by the neck or leg (depending on type).

Sheep dog or shepherd dog
a dog used to move and control sheep, often very highly trained. Other types of dog may be used just to guard sheep and these are sometimes also called sheepdogs.

Shepherd
a stockperson or farmer who looks after sheep.

Shepherding
the act of shepherding sheep, or sheep husbandry more generally.

Shearing
cutting off the fleece, normally done with 48 blows in a set pattern by skilled shearers using shearing machines. A sheep may be said to have been either sheared or shorn, depending on dialect. The majority of shearing is done with machines that have a powered cutter blade that moves back and forth over a sharpened comb. Some shearing is still done with hand shears.

Sheep
the species, or members of it. The plural is the same as the singular. Normally used of individuals of any age, but in some areas only for those of breeding age.

Septicemia
invasion of the bloodstream by pathogens. Septicemic pigs have purple discoloration of the ears, snout and belly. They often squeal plaintively during handling, walking tenderly on their toes. Sometimes they shift weight from foot to foot while standing. Various diseases can result in septicemia, but whatever the cause, treat immediately with Banamine and Baytril.

Ruminant
animals that chew their cud and have a specialized four compartment stomach for digesting plant fiber.

Sacrifice area
a paddock that is allowed to be overgrazed by the flock in order to allow other paddocks to be protected.

Sale barn
an auction barn where animals are bid on by buyers.

Scours
diarrhea.

Scrapie
a wasting disease of sheep and goats, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE, like BSE of cattle) and believed to be caused by a prion. Efforts have been made in some countries to breed for sheep genotypes resistant to scrapie.

Riggwelter
a sheep that has rolled onto its back and is unable to get up (usually because of the weight of its fleece and/or late

Rotational grazing
management system involving the frequent movement of grazing animals. Pastures are grazed intensively and then rested, ideally matching the nutrient needs of the animal with the maturity of the grass.

Prolapse retainer or spoon
plastic spoon that holds a prolapsed vagina in place.

Pulling a lamb
grasping the lamb and gently pulling it out of the ewe while she is giving birth.

Ram
an uncastrated adult male sheep. Also tup.

Ram breeds (medium wool sheep)
meat

Ram lamb
a young male sheep less than 1 year old.

Replacements
young females that will be kept as breeding stock, replacing older females as they are culled. They are often raised separately from feeder stock.

Porcine
of or relating to pigs.

Pour
on or backliner

Pregger
a visibly pregnant female (Sweet Stem Farm term).

Prolapse
protrusion of the rectum, uterus or vagina.

Prolapse harness
harness devised to hold a prolapsed vagina in place.

Polled
an animal without horns.

Poobles
Sweet Stem Farm term for sheep droppings (marbles of poo).

Pizzle rot or sheath rot
infection and inflammation of the prepuce in males. Usually caused by high protein diets.

Pinkeye
an infectious disease mostly of cattle, rarely sheep and goats, characterized by tearing, conjunctivitis, corneal clouding and ulceration. Affects young animals most often, but can be a problem for animals of any age. In cattle, individuals with unpigmented skin around the eyes (i.e. animals with white hair around the eyes) are most susceptible. This disease is acute and can progress to blindness in one or both eyes rapidly.

Piglet
newborn of either sex.

Ovine
any member of the various members of the genus Ovis, including domestic sheep, big horn sheep, mouflon, etc.

Ovis aries
domestic sheep.

Oxen (singular is ox)
bovines kept for draft purposes, usually steers but occasionally cows, in which case these cows might be referred to as triple

Parturition
giving birth

Pat
cattle manure.

Pathogenic
causing disease

Mutton
the meat of an older ewe or wether.

Mycoplasmal pneumonia
a chronic, infectious disease of the lungs of pigs, causing a persistent cough most evident when pigs are roused. Also causes reduced growth rate and unpredictable flare

Old
crop lamb or old

Open
a female that is not bred.

Orf, sore
mouth, scabby mouth or contagious ecthyma

Mortality
death as a result of disease.

Morbidity
reduced productivity related to disease.

Milk replacer
a substitute for milk. Fed to orphaned lambs, calves or pigs.

Meconium
first poop of a newborn mammal.

Milk fever or Hypocalcemia
a metabolic disorder common in dairy cattle resulting from low blood calcium. It is uncommon in pigs and beef cattle, but happens with some regularity in productive sheep and goats. Milk fever is a misnomer as rectal temperatures of affected animals are usually subnormal. Hypocalcemia is usually (but certainly not always) caused by the sudden, increased calcium demands placed on pregnant or lactating females by the rapid growth of near

Marking
up or lamb marking

Mastitis
inflammation of the mammary glands caused by bacterial infection. Teat injuries teat sores, and unsanitary environmental conditions are major predisposing factors for mastitis. In dairy cows poor milking procedures and milking machine faults are also important factors.

Long wool breeds
breeds that produce long

Lanolin
a thick yellow greasy substance in wool, secreted by the sheep's skin. Also called wool fat, wool wax, wool grease, adeps lanae or yolk. Extracted from raw wool and used for various purposes.

Lesion
any pathological or traumatic damage of tissue.

Listeriosis or circling disease
an acute infectious, non

Litter
all the pigs farrowed at one time by an individual sow (usually 6

Lambing percentage
the number of lambs successfully reared in a flock compared with the number of ewes that have been mated

Lambing jug or lambing pen
a small pen to confine ewes with their newly born lambs to facilitate bonding.

Lactation
milk production

Lamb
a young sheep in its first year.

Lambing
the process of a ewe giving birth to lambs. Also the work of tending lambing ewes (shepherds are said to lamb their flocks).

Johne's or Paratuberculosis
A contagious bacterial disease primarily of ruminants. The bacteria is shed in large numbers in the feces of infected animals and the disease spreads through ingestion of contaminated feed and water. Infection usually occurs early in life, but in cattle, clinical signs of chronic diarrhea, progressive weight loss, emaciation and death rarely develop in animals less than 2 years old. In infected sheep and goats diarrhea is less common.

In lamb
pregnant.

Intramuscular (IM)
an injection given into the muscle.

Ileitis
a common diarrheal disease of pigs characterized by inflammation of the ileum. Feces are watery and yellowish

Hot box or warming box
a heated box used to warm chilled lambs.

House fly
non

Horn fly
small biting fly that harasses cattle on pasture. Large numbers of horn flies bite cattle along the back and they rest on horns or withers. Lay eggs only in fresh, undisturbed pats.