Chapter 20

• Ruminant


  A cud chewing animal with a forestomach that allows fermentation of ingesta. Cattle, sheep, and goats have four stomach compartments. The first three (the rumen, reticulum, and omasum) are outpouchings of the esophagus, and the abomasum is considered the true or glandular stomach.
• Dual purpose


  Breeds that can be used for meat or dairy
• Artificial insemination, AI


  Breeding method in which semen is collected, stored, and deposited in the uterus or vagina without copulation taking place.
• Auction


  Method of selling cattle by bidding in a public venue; used for selling small numbers of animals.
• Backgrounding


  Time between weaning and going to the feedlot when a calf is fed primarily a roughage diet.
• Balling gun or bolus gun


  Tool used to administer pills, boluses, or magnets to livestock
• Barren


  Animal that was not bred or did not conceive
• Beef checkoff


  Federal program where one dollar from every beef animal sold goes to state and national organizations to promote the beef industry and fund research to the beef industry.
• Body capacity


  Heart girth and barrel
• Brand


  Method of permanently identifying an animal by scarring the skin with heat, extreme cold, or chemicals
• Bred


  Said of an animal that has mated or is pregnant
• Breed


  Group of animals that are genetically similar in color and conformation so that when mated to each other, they produce young identical to themselves; also the act of breeding
• Breed character


  Characteristics unique to a breed
• Bulk tank


  Holding tank on a dairy farm used to store milk until it is picked up by a milk cooperative; the tank cools the milk to 40 F and maintains that temperature until transport arrives.
• California mastitis test


  Test that is a cow side indicator of somatic cell count to determine the presence of mastitis.
• Calving interval


  Amount of time between the birth of a calf and birth of the next calf from the same cow.
• Carcass


  The body of an animal after it has been slaughtered; usually has the head, hide, blood, and offal removed
• Casting


  Restraint method using ropes to place the animal in lateral recumbency
• Cattle


  More than one member of the genus Bos.
• Cleaning a cow or cleansing a cow


  Common term for removal of a retained placenta
• Cod


  Remnants of a steer scrotum
• Colostrometer


  Instrument designed to float in a sample of colostrum to measure the specific gravity (density) of colostrum; higher quality colostrum will have more immunoglobulins and will be more dense and will cause the instrument to float higher in the sample than colostrum in the sample than colostrum with less immunoglobulins (decreased density).
• Colostrum


  First milk like substance produced by the female after parturition; it is thick, yellow, and high in protein and antibodies
• Composite breeds


  A new breed developed from combining established breeds
• Condition


  Amount of fat cover on a breeding animal
• Confined Animal Feeding Operations, CAFO


  Large operations that raise animals in a limited amount of space. Facilities identified as this must comply with EPA guidelines regarding waste removal
• Conformation


  Shape and body type of an animal
• Corium


  Specialized, highly vascular cells that nourish the horn and hoof
• Crossbred


  Having resulted from the mating of two different breeds within the same species
• Cull


  To remove an animal from the rest because it does not meet a specific standard or is unproductive
• Dairy character


  Term used to describe how closely an animal fits a dairy type; animals should be lean without excess fat because their energy should be focused on the production of milk (not meat and fat). It is a visual representation of energy distribution.
• Dehorn


  To remove horn and horn buds by mechanical, thermal, or chemical means.
• Dental pad


  Hard surface of the upper mouth of ruminants that serves in place of the upper teeth
• Downer


  A recumbent animal that has failed to respond to treatment. The could have a variety of conditions like milk fever, fractured bone, etc.
• Dual purpose


  Bred and used for both meat and milk production or meat and wool.
• Ear tagging


  Placement of identification device in the ear. They are placed in the left ear in cattle because the right ear has the brucellosis vaccine tattoo.
• Embryo transfer


  Removal of an embryo from a female of superior genetics and placing it in the reproductive tract of another female.
• Estrus synchronization


  Practice of using hormones to have multiple animals come into estrus at the same time to increase efficiency of artificial insemination and produce calves of uniform age.
• F1 generation


  First offspring from purebred parents of different breeds or varieties
• F1


  First filial