Animal Science Vocabulary
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- cow-calf operation
- a management unit that maintains a breeding herd and produces weaned calves
- feeder
- an animal that needs further feeding prior to slaughter
- stocker
- weaned cattle that are fed high-roughage diets before going into the feedlot
- grade or commercial
- livestock not registered with registry association
- purebred
- animals that may have been "upbred" by crossbreeding full bloods with other breeds
- full blood
- animals that have no crossbred ancestors
- registered
- recorded in the herdbook of a breed
- bred
- female that has been mated
- breed
- animals of common origin with characteristics that distinguish them from other groups within the same species
- band
- a relatively large group of horses or range sheep
- flock
- a group of sheep or poultry
- herd
- a group of beef, dairy, or swine
- buck
- a male sheep or goat
- bull
- a bovine male
- bullock
- a young bull
- calve
- bovine parturition
- dam
- female parent
- farrow
- porcine parturition
- heifer
- young female bovine that hasn't produced her first calf
- heiferette
- a heifer that has calved but not nursed and is sent to the feedlot
- hinny
- stallion x jennet
- jack
- male donkey
- jennet
- female donkey
- mule
- jack x mare
- litter
- the young produced by multiparous females
- parturition
- process of giving birth
- ram
- mature male sheep
- shoat
- young pig of either sex
- shrink
- loss of weight
- sire
- male parent
- castrate
- to remove the testicles
- spay
- to remove the ovaries
- stag
- animal that has been castrated after sexual maturity
- stud
-
-synonymous with stallion
-place where males are kept - beef
- meat from cattle other than calves
- boxed beef
- primal and subprimal cuts of beef that are put in boxes for shipping from packing plant to retailers
- pork
- meat from swine
- veal
- meat from young cattle
- weaning
- separating young animals from their dams so that the offspring can no longer suckle
- weanling
- an animal of weaning age
- yearling
- animals that are approximately 1 year old
- forb
- weedy or broadleaf plants that serve as pasture for animals
- browse
- woody or brushy plants
- brockle-faced
- white-faced with other colors splotched on the face and head
- colostrum
- the first milk given by a female after delivery of her young
- creep
- an enclosure in which only young can enter to feed
- cwt
- an abbreviation for hundred weight
- per capita
- per person
- hide
- skin from animals
- pelt
- the natural, whole-skin covering
- skins
- hides from smaller animals
- calving interval
- the amount of time between the birth of a calf and the birth of a subsequent calf from the same cow
- contemporaries
- group of animals of the same sex and breed, or similar breeding, that have been raised under similar environmental conditions
- cull
- to eliminate one or more animals from the breeding herd or flock
- environment
- the sum total of all external conditions that affect the well-being and performance of an animal
- full sibs
- animals with the same sire and dam
- half sibs
- animals having one common parent
- longevity
- lifespan of an animal
- nicking
- the way in which certain lines, strains, or breed perform when mated together
- parity
- number of times a female has had offspring
- seed stock
- breeding animals
- selection
- differentially reproducing what one wants in a herd or flock
- A.I.
- the introduction of semen into the female reproductive tract by a technique other than natural service
- amnion
- fluid-filled membrane located next to the fetus
- anestrous
- period of time when female is not in estrus
- artificial vagina
- device used to collect semen from a male when he mounts in a normal manner to copulate
- caruncle
- the "buttons" on the ruminant uterus where the cotyledons on the fetal membranes attach
- chorion
- the outermost layer of fetal membranes
- conception
- fertilization of the ovum
- cotyledon
- an area of the placenta that interfaces with the uterine lining to allow nutrients and wastes to pass from the mother to the developing young
- cycling
- infers that nonpregnant females have active estrous cycles
- dystocia
- difficult birth
- fertility
- the capacity to initiate, sustain, and support reproduction
- flushing
- placing females on a gaining level of nutrition before breeding to stimulate greater ovulation rates
- freemartin
- female born twin to a bull
- gestation
- the time from breeding or conception of a female until she gives birth to her young
- gonad
- the testis of the male and the ovary of the female
- multiparous
- having had two or more pregnancies resulting in viable fetuses
- postpartum
- after birth
- postpartum interval
- length of time from parturition until the dam is again pregnant
- puberty
- age at which the reproductive organs become functionally operative
- service
- to breed or mate
- barren
- not capable of producing offspring
- dry
- refers to a nonlactating female
- open
- refers to a nonpregnant female
- wet
- a milking female
- winking
- indication of estrus in the mare where the vulva opens and closes
- growth
- the increase in protein over its loss in the animal body
- finish
- the degree of fatness of an animal
- adipose
- fat cells or fat tissue
- fat
- adipose tissue
- lipid
- used interchangeably with "fat"
- probe
- device used to measure backfat thickness in pigs and cattle
- break joint
- denotes the point on a lamb carcass where the foot and pastern are removed at the cartilaginous junction of the front leg
- spool joint
- joint where the foot and pastern are removed from the front leg
- lamb
- young male or female sheep
- mutton
- meat from a sheep that is over a year old
- monogastric
- having only one stomach or one compartment in the stomach
- nonruminant
- monogastric animal
- ruminant
- mammal whose stomach has 4 parts
- concentrate
- feed used with another to improve the nutrive value of the whole
- roughage
- feed that is high in fiber but low in digestible nutrients and energy
- hay
- harvested forage
- silage
- forage, corn fodder, or sorghum preserved by fermentation
- soilage
- green forage that is cut and brought to animals as food
- bolus
- regurgitated food
- cud
- bolus of feed that is for further chewing
- diet
- feed ingredients or mixture of ingredients which are consumed by animals
- ration
- the amount of total feed fed to an animal over a 24-hour period
- digestibility
- food that is absorbable into the body
- digestion
- the reduction in particle size of feed so that the feed become soluble
- feed efficiency
- pound of feed/pound of gain
- on full feed
- refers to animals that are receiving all the food they can consume
- anterior
- situated in front
- dorsal
- situated on the back of an animal
- distal
- position that is distant from the point of attachment of an organ
- posterior
- toward the rear end of an animal
- proximal
- position that is closest to the point of attachment of a limb or bone
- ventral
- situated on the abdominal plane of the body
- morbidity
- measurement of illness
- mortality
- measurement of death
- buck-kneed
- condition in which the knee is set too far forward in relation to the leg
- calf-kneed
- condition in which the knees bend backward
- cow-hocked
- hocks are close together but the feet stand apart
- interfering
- striking the supporting leg with the foot of the striding leg
- paddling
- outward swinging of the front feet of a horse that toes in
- pigeon-toed
- toes of front feet turn in
- sickle-hocked
- hind feet are too far forward and too far underneath the animal
- soundness
- free from injury, damage, defect, or disease
- splay-footed
- toes of front feet turn out
- toeing in
- same as pigeon-toed
- toeing out
- same as splay-footed
- unsoundness
- any defect or injury that interferes with the usefullness of an animal
- winging
- an exaggerated outward deviation in the fore foot and lower leg at flexion
- broken-mouth
- some teeth are missing or broken
- full-mouth
- animal that has all permanent teeth fully exposed
- mouthed
- examined an animal's teeth
- overshot (parrot-mouth)
- upper jaw is longer than lower jaw
- undershot (monkey-mouth)
- lower jaw is longer than upper jaw
- blemish
- any defect or injury that mars the appearance of, but not the usefullness of, an animal
- libido
- sex drive or the desire to mate on the part of the male
- scours
- diarrhea
- hand mating
- bringing a female to a male for service and removing the female from the male's location afterward
- cod
- scrotal area of steer remaining after castration
- dehorn
- to remove the horns from an animal
- polled
- naturally or genetically hornless
- scurs
- small growths of hornlike tissue attached to the skin of polled or dehorned animals
- wattle
- method of identification in cattle where strips of skin are usually cut on the nose, jaw, throat, or brisket
- dock
- to cut off the tail
- lambing jug
- a small pen for a ewe that is lambing
- fleece
- the wool shorn at one time from all parts of a sheep
- grease wool
- wool as it comes from the sheep prior to cleaning
- hank
- measurement of fineness of wool
- shearing
- process of removing the fleece from a sheep
- spinning count
- the number of hanks of yarn that can be spun from a pound of clean wool
- crutching
- clipping wool from the dock, udder, and vulva regions of the ewe prior to breeding and lambing
- tags
- wool covered with manure
- conformation
- the physical form of an animal
- type
- the physical attributes that contribute to the value of an animal for a specific purpose
- milk fat
- the fat in milk
- udder
- the encased group of mammary glands of an animal
- Roman nose
- horse nose that doesn't have a prominent bridge