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

Hoof trimmer
shears used for trimming hooves.

Hay
grass, clover, alfalfa, etc. cut and dried to about 15% moisture for use as stored feed.

Haylage
grass, clover, alfalfa, etc. cut and dried to about 60% moisture, then chopped fine and preserved in air

Heifer
young female from newborn until her first calf is born or she reaches 3 years of age.

Hog
a pig that is large enough and well

Hogget
a young female sheep from about 9 to 18 months of age.

Halter
a restraint device that is fitted over the animals face.

Hair sheep
breeds lacking wool. Some have pure hair coats and some have a mixture of hair and wool fibers that shed naturally. These breeds are best adapted to tropical climates (e.g. Katahdin, Dorper, Barbados Blackbelly).

Haemophilus parasuis
a pathogenic bacteria of swine often associated with respiratory disease. Diseases due to Hp are best prevented with vaccination.

Greasy wool
wool as it has been shorn from the sheep and therefore not yet washed or cleaned.

Haemonchosis
A disease of ruminants caused by a parasitic, blood sucking nematode, commonly known as the barberpole worm. As many as a thousand adult worms may feed on the lining of the ruminant's true stomach, causing anemia (evident as pale mucous membranes), weakness, loss of appetite and eventually death. Edema under the chin, known as bottle jaw, is a common development, but scours are not. Lambs and lactating ewes are especially vulnerable. Diets low in protein also increase susceptibility to internal parasites.

Gauge (of needle)
thickness of the needle. The smaller the gauge the thicker the needle.

Gestation
pregnancy

Gilt
young female that hasn't farrowed.

Gimmer
a young female sheep, usually before her first lamb (especially used in the north of England and Scotland).

Graft/grafting
bonding an orphaned lamb to a ewe. Often attempted by covering the orphaned lamb with fetal fluids from the ewe's dead lamb. Best done by skinning the ewe's dead lamb and placing the skin over the new lamb. Also sometimes achieved by a grafting head gate.

Gathering pen
pen that holds the majority of the sheep prior to being handled.

Free martin
an infertile heifer calf that is born a twin to a bull calf.

Forage
herbaceous plants used for feed for livestock in the form of grass, green chop, hay, haylage, and baleage.

Forcing pen
a pen used to contain animals before they are drawn into treatment chutes. Also called a gozinta.

Founder or laminitis
a condition of ruminants. Lameness resulting from overeating concentrates. In chronic cases, hooves become overgrown and deformed, causing foot pain. Apart from acidosis, coliform mastitis may also create powerful endotoxins that cause laminitic insults.

Fold or sheepfold
a pen in which a flock is kept overnight to keep the sheep safe from predators, or to allow the collection of dung for fertilizer.

Fly strike
infestation of the wool, skin and eventually flesh with blowfly or botfly maggots, rapidly causing injury or death. Usually (but not always) occurs where the wool has become contaminated by dung or urine, or at the site of an injury.

Flushing
providing especially nutritious feed in the few weeks before mating to improve fertility, or in the period before birth to increase lamb birth

Flehmen response
the upcurled upper lip a ram or bull exhibits when they are trying to detect estrus during breeding season.

Flock
a group of sheep. All the sheep on a property.

Fleece
the wool covering of a sheep.

First
calf heifer

Feeder cattle or feeders
weaned cattle that are being fattened for beef production.

Feeder lambs
weaned lambs that are being fattened for meat production.

Finished lambs
lambs that are well

Finisher farm
describes a farm production model where pigs are purchased after weaning as feeders and fed until they are well

Farrowing
the process of a sow giving birth to piglets.

Farrow
to

Face fly
non

Ewe breeds
usually white

Ewe lamb
a young female sheep less than 1 year old.

Erysipelas
an infectious disease mostly of swine, usually causing purple or red diamond

Entropion eye
a hereditary defect in which an eyelid is turned inward and the lashes irritate the cornea. Can cause blindness if not treated. Occurs in ovines and canines.

Dystocia
a difficult birth.

Elastrator
a device that stretches rubber or elastic rings over the tail and/or scrotum of a lamb or calf.

Emaciated
extremely thin

Enterotoxemia
a clostridial disease that typically results in sudden death of sheep, cattle, poultry, goats, horses, and pigs. In ruminants, this disease is precipitated by feeding high levels of concentrates in the diet. Easily prevented with vaccination.

Dual purpose breeds
breeds used as both ewe and ram breeds (e.g. Dorset, Polypay, Corriedale).

Drench
an oral veterinary medicine administered by a drenching gun (usually an anthelmintic (dewormer)).

Driving or droving
walking animals from one place to another.

Dry
non

Dry ewe
a ewe that has stopped giving milk for the season.

Dry matter
the portion of a feed that is not water (expressed as a percentage).

Dual
purpose breeds

Downs
breeds of sheep belonging to the medium wool group.

Dipping
immersing sheep in a plunge or shower dip to kill external parasites. Pour

Docking
process of removing a sheep's tail.

Dairy cattle
cattle of various breeds selected specifically for milk production (e.g. Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, Dutch

Dam
a female parent.

Cull ewe
a ewe no longer suitable for breeding, and sold for meat.

Dags
clumps of dried dung stuck to the wool of a sheep, which may lead to fly

Cull cow
a cow no longer suitable for breeding, and sold for meat.

Crutching
shearing wool from around the vulva and udder. Done prior to lambing.

Concentrates
feeds that are low in fiber and high in total digestible nutrients, like grains.

Cool season grasses
grasses that provide high quality grazing in the spring and then mature during the summer becoming less productive.

Cow
adult female. Used loosely, but incorrectly, as a singular term for cattle.

Cast ewe
a sheep lying on its' back unable to regain its footing, possibly due to lying in a hollow with legs facing uphill, having a heavy fleece and/or being in the last trimester of pregnancy with multiple lambs. Also see riggwelter.

Cattle
bovine animals of any age or sex or breed (only used in plural).

Clean pasture
a pasture that should have little to no worm load.

Coccidiosis
highly infective, non

Colostrum
the first milk that a female mammal produces. Rich in energy, Vitamin A and antibodies. Essential that a lamb, pig or calf receives colostrum shortly after being born.

Calving
the process of a cow gving birth to a calf.

Calf
young cattle of either sex.

Broken
mouth or broken

Bull
adult uncastrated male.

Bull calf
uncastrated male calf. Bull calves from dairy breeds often remain uncastrated and are raised for veal.

Bunk feeder
an elevated trough

Blow
a shearing stroke.

Boar
uncastrated male.

Body condition
a score of 1

Bos taurus
domestic cattle.

Bovine
any of the various members of the genus Bos including wild and domestic cattle.

Breeding harness or marking harness
harness worn by a ram during breeding season. It holds a crayon that leaves a mark on a ewe after the ram has bred her.

Beef critter
singular of beef cattle (alternatively, bovine or ox).

Bellwether
originally an experienced wether given a bell to lead a flock.

Bio
security

Baleage
grass, clover, alfalfa, etc. cut and dried to about 50% moisture, then baled and wrapped in plastic where it is preserved in air

Barrow
castrated male.

Beef cattle
cattle of various breeds selected specifically for beef production (e.g. Angus, Charlois, Hereford, Limousine, etc.).

Ad lib
free

Acidosis or grain overload
a ruminant disorder caused by over consumption of concentrates. Concentrates are fermented by certain gram positive rumen bacteria, producing dangerous amounts of lactic acid. If the transition from a high roughage diet to a high concentrate diet is gradual, ruminant animals and their gut microbes can adjust without a problem. However, if the change is too sudden, the bacteria which digest the concentrates produce high levels of acidity which kills the other normal microflora of the rumen and may inflame the rumen lining (i.e. rumenitis). Acute indigestion develops leading to depression, yellow or tan diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, snotty nose, and anorexia. Absorption of large amounts of lactic acid into the bloodstream is associated with severe illness including circulatory failure and shock. Animals so affected stagger, are unable to rise, become comatose and die. Surviving animals may develop acute laminitis which may progress to a chronic laminitis over several weeks.