Glossary

[ Sheep ]

Male, not castrated over five years old (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Livestock General ]

The provision of grazing for another person’s livestock for a payment.

[ General ]

Schemes to encourage environmentally friendly farm practices

[ Arable ]

Land that is croppable.

[ Livestock General ]

Impregnating an animal by artificial means and not by natural breeding.

[ Arable ]

Manufactured fertilizers.

[ General ]

Schemes with guaranteed standards of quality, traceability and, often, welfare of animals. Usually required by supermarkets of their suppliers.

[ Cattle ]

Cow which has been mated but is not in calf

[ Pigs ]

Female from 12 weeks up to second litter at 18 months not in-pig

[ Poultry ]

Housing system of tiers of cages.

[ Cattle ]

Headage payment made on beef calves in Scotland to support the supply and quality of Scotch beef and the environment.

[ Pigs ]

Male

[ Arable ]

The likes of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts & swede.

[ Livestock General ]

Feeding stuff made of the remains of barley that has been used in the brewing industry.

[ Poultry ]

Intensively reared slaughtered at 6 – 7 weeks.

[ Cattle ]

Uncastrated male over 2 years old.

[ Cattle ]

An entire animal raised for beef.

[ Cattle ]

Feeding/Fattening – Castrated male being fed for slaughter

[ Cattle ]

Castrated male.

[ Cattle ]

The fatty substance found in milk from which comes cream and butter. Used as measure of the quality of milk.

[ Livestock General ]

Traditional housing for dairy cattle in stalls

[ Cattle ]

Uncastrated male up to 1 year old

Female 0-6 months old.

[ Cattle ]

Period between one calving and the next, usually 375 days.

[ Cattle ]

At first calving 2-3 years old.

[ General ]

The Common Agricultural Policy of the EU that underpins agriculture throughout Europe.

[ Poultry ]

Castrated male bird slaughtered at 18 weeks.

[ Arable ]

One that is sold as opposed to being kept for own use.

[ Arable ]

One that occupies the land for a short time between two main crops.

[ Cattle ]

Compulsory identification document for all cattle to enable the recording of births, deaths, imports and the whereabouts of animals.

[ Arable ]

The cultivated members of the grass family such as wheat, barley, oats and rye.

[ Poultry ]

Day old to 8 weeks.

[ Arable ]

A bulk store, for silage or root crops, in the open often covered with tarpaulins weighted down with old tyres.

[ Livestock General ]

One where replacements are bred within the herd and not brought in from outside.

[ Poultry ]

Male over 18 months.

[ Poultry ]

Male 6 – 18 months.

[ Arable ]

A mixture of nitrogen, phosphate & potash.

[ General ]

An agreement to manage land in an environmentally friendly way in return for annual payments. The Scheme ends in 2014, replaced by the Environmental Stewardship schemes.

[ General ]

Subsidy payments directly linked to production.

[ Cattle ]

Female after having given birth to second calf.

[ General ]

Requirements laid down in the Single Farm Payment Scheme relating to good management of the land and environment.

[ Cattle ]

Method of housing cattle in groups with provision for individual stalls.

[ Sheep ]

Ewe due to be culled from the herd.

[ Pigs ]

Slaughter at 20 – 22 weeks at 80kg

[ Cattle ]

Mother cow of a particular calf.

[ General ]

A farmer’s stock other than livestock, e.g. corn and hay, sometimes used to include tools, machinery and fertilisers.

[ General ]

Subsidy payments linked to the area of land farmed and not directly to production.

[ Poultry ]

Housing system containing large groups of birds on a bedding of, for example, wood shavings.

[ General ]

The use of farmland or buildings for non-agricultural purposes e.g. warehousing, paint balling.

[ Sheep ]

Ewe moved from hill/uplands for breeding on lowland farms.

[ Cattle ]

Cow due for sale or slaughter.

[ Livestock General ]

Farmyard manure.

[ Livestock General ]

Electronic identification of farm animals usually by micro-chipped ear tags.

[ General ]

A scheme to provide funding to encourage farmers and other landowners to improve the environmental management of their land. See Factsheet.

[ General ]

A scheme to safeguard and enhance parts of the country of high landscape, wildlife or historic value. Ends in 2014, replaced by Environmental Stewardship schemes.

[ Sheep ]

Female after second shear (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Female weaning to first shear (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Female weaning to first shear (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Birth- weaning female (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Female first to second shear (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Arable ]

Land left idle during the growing season.

[ Pigs ]

Giving birth to piglets, producing around 20 piglets per year in 2 batches.

[ Sheep ]

Lamb sold for meat.

[ Pigs ]

Sow female after having second litter, being fed for slaughter

[ Livestock General ]

A herd where replacement stock is frequently bought in from outside.

[ Cattle ]

Young stock in a dairy herd intended as replacements in the production herd.

[ Arable ]

A crop for animal feeding and not human consumption.

[ Cattle ]

Heifer calf born as a twin to a bull calf, usually infertile

[ General ]

An organism that has been altered in a way that does not occur by natural mating or development.

[ Livestock General ]

The period from egg fertilisation to birth, varies with species:-

• Cattle – 9 months
• Sheep – 5 months
• Pigs – 4 months

[ Cattle ]

Period from conception to parturition, average 283 days.

[ Pigs ]

Female from 12 weeks up to second litter at 18 months.

[ Sheep ]

Female weaning to first shear (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Birth- weaning female (Name will vary between different regions)

[ General ]

A 5 year whole farm sustainable land management scheme available to farmers and land managers across Wales. From 2012, Glastir will replace the existing agri-environment schemes

[ Arable ]

A crop grown to be ploughed in to fertilise the soil.

[ Sheep ]

Ewe sold when pregnant.

[ Arable ]

A form of silage with a high dry matter content.

[ Pigs ]

Slaughter at 24 – 30 weeks at 100kg.

[ Sheep ]

A group of sheep grazing in a particular range of mountain pasture. Hefting is the propensity of mountain sheep to remain on “their” part of the unfenced land.

[ Cattle ]

Female 6 months to 3 years old

[ Poultry ]

Adult female over 18 months

[ Sheep ]

A number of hefts in a group.

[ Cattle ]

Pregnant cow

[ General ]

A mechanism used by the EU to maintain market prices by buying produce when the market is over-supplied and prices fall below a threshold. Produce is then sold when supplies are reduced and market prices rise. The effect is to help insulate EU farmers from the true world market and to keep EU prices artificially high.

[ Arable ]

Temporary or rotational grassland.

[ General ]

Less Favoured Areas, land in hill and upland regions.

[ General ]

Payments to support farmers in Less Favoured Areas.

[ Cattle ]

Method of housing cattle in groups

[ General ]

Standard legal agreements covering a range of farming and related enterprises, produced by the NFUs for their members.

[ General ]

The use of a portion of the SFP funds to support agri-environment schemes.

[ Arable ]

Areas where there is an identified danger of pollution of rivers, lakes and other water sources by nitrates used in agricultural fertilisers

[ Livestock General ]

Diseases where any confirmed or suspected outbreak must be notified to the authorities e.g. foot-and-mouth.

[ Arable ]

A crop providing protection for another e.g. grass under sown in cereals.

[ Sheep ]

Chemicals used in sheep dips that were alleged to have caused health problems for operatives. No firm proof has yet emerged.

[ Pigs ]

Pig up to 4 weeks old.

[ Poultry ]

Female about to start laying at 18 weeks.

[ Pigs ]

Slaughter at 18 – 20 weeks at 70kg.

[ Poultry ]

Bird up to 8 weeks

[ Poultry ]

A compulsory register of all flocks of over 50 birds intended to help in the management of any outbreak of disease such as Avian Flu.

[ General ]

A shaft, usually at the rear of a tractor powered by the engine, to drive an implement.

[ Poultry ]

Female 6 weeks to 18 months.

[ Sheep ]

Male after second shear, not castrated (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Male, weaning to first shear, not castrated (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

First to second shear, not castrated male (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Male, weaning to first shear, not castrated (Name will vary between different regions)

[ General ]

Diesel that carries a much lower fuel tax and is strictly for agricultural purposes only. The fuel is stained red for ease of identification and the rules are rigidly enforced by Revenue & Customs with high penalties for improper use.

[ General ]

A quality assurance scheme denoting produce that is 100% British produced, processed and packed.

[ Livestock General ]

Male with one testicle.

[ General ]

The right of public access to designated areas under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CROW).

[ Arable ]

The likes of potatoes and beet.

[ Livestock General ]

Land which is usually unploughable.

[ Pigs ]

Underdeveloped pig.

[ General ]

Programme to support improvements in competitiveness in agriculture and forestry, safeguard and enhance rural development and foster sustainable rural businesses and communities.

[ General ]

Land taken out of production or used for non-food or animal feed crops as required under EU rules.

[ Arable ]

Grass and other green crops preserved in a moist state generally with molasses or other additives, either in a clamp, or in a silo tower. Mainly used as cattle feed.

[ Arable ]

An airtight container into which fresh cut grass and other green stuff is packed to make silage.

[ General ]

The annual payment to farmers under the EU CAP. See Factsheet.

[ Cattle ]

Bull which has fathered a particular calf.

[ General ]

A site designated under the Wildlife & Countryside Act as being an outstanding example of our natural heritage.

[ Cattle ]

Method of housing cattle in groups on slats with a cellar below to collect dung & urine.

[ Arable ] [ Livestock General ]

A mixture of animal waste solids and liquid.

[ Pigs ]

Female after having second litter.

[ Poultry ]

Adult male

[ General ]

Schemes to provide funds for landowners to improve the environmental management of their land. See Environmental Stewardship Factsheet.

[ Cattle ]

Female 6-18 months.

[ Livestock General ]

Generally cattle or sheep sold or bought for fattening.

[ Arable ]

Breaking up the soil to a depth of 18 inches to improve drainage.

[ Cattle ]

Calf up to 12 months which is, or has, suckled its dam.

[ Cattle ]

Cow suckling a calf.

[ General ]

Welsh agri-environment scheme due to end on 31st December 2013.

[ General ]

Scheme to support and maintain livestock production in the less productive farming areas of Wales

[ Sheep ]

Male, weaning to first shear, not castrated (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Birth- weaning male, not castrated (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Mating

[ Sheep ]

Ewe from which lambs have been weaned.

[ Cattle ]

Calf now on solid food, not milk.

[ Pigs ]

Female 4 to 12 weeks old.

[ Sheep ]

Castrated male, weaning to first shear (Name will vary between different regions)

[ Sheep ]

Castrated, birth- weaning male (Name will vary between different regions)

[ General ]

Woodland Grant Scheme provides grants to create new woodlands and improve the management and regeneration of existing ones.

[ Arable ]

Cereal crops sown in the autumn.