Poultry and Beef Production and Reproduction Lecture Notes

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering poultry terminology, chicken and turkey breeds, avian biology, beef industry operations, cattle breeds, and both avian and bovine reproduction systems.

Cock/Rooster

A mature male chicken.

Cockerel

A young male chicken.

Tom

A male turkey.

Hen

A mature female chicken or turkey.

Broody hen

A hen that wants to sit on eggs to hatch them.

Recycled hen

A hen that has completed a laying cycle and is kept for another.

Pullet

A young female chicken that has not yet laid her first egg.

Chick

A young chicken.

Poult

A young turkey.

Broilers

Poultry raised for meat of either sex, typically grown for $6-8$ weeks and marketed at approximately $~4\,lbs$.

Layers

Hens specifically kept for egg laying.

Oviposition

The physiological process of laying eggs.

Beak trimming

The removal of $\frac{1}{8}-\frac{1}{4}$ of the upper beak of poultry.

Leghorn

The most numerous poultry breed in the US, originally from Northern Italy, characterized by red wattles and earlobes.

New Hampshire Red

A dual purpose chicken breed developed in the US from Rhode Island Reds, known for rapid growth and early maturing.

Rhode Island Red

A US breed deep red in color, known for being a dual purpose bird.

Plymouth Rock

A docile, hardy, dual purpose US breed often used on homesteads, including Barred Rock and White Plymouth Rock varieties.

White Cornish

An English breed designed for meat with a big breast and broad, well-muscled body; called the "ultimate meat bird."

Bantam

Small chickens from Indonesia that are $\frac{1}{2}$ to $\frac{2}{3}$ the size of regular chickens, mainly used as pets or ornamentals.

Silkie

A docile breed from China with fluffy, satin-like plumage that is exceptionally broody.

Wyandotte

A dual purpose breed from Canada and the US, originally named American Sebright, featuring rose combs.

Australop

A dual purpose breed from Australia characterized by a beetle-green shade of black plumage.

Broad Breasted White Turkey

The most widely used turkey in the US, which must be reproduced via Artificial Insemination (AI) because they are too big to reproduce naturally.

Down

Small, soft insulating feathers, of which $90\%$ are imported.

Grade A (Poultry)

Poultry with plump meaty bodies and clean skin, free of bruises, broken bones, and discoloration, typically sold at retail.

Free range

A marketing term indicating birds have access to an enclosed pen outside.

Hormone free

A marketing label that is technically redundant as it is illegal to use hormones in poultry in the US.

Candling

A technique where a bright light is shown through an egg to detect imperfections, damage, or internal quality.

Sexual maturity (Pullet)

Occurs when a pullet lays her first egg, typically at $18-22$ weeks.

Blastoderm

The specific site on the egg where the embryo develops if it is fertilized and incubated.

Albumen

The egg white, which serves as the principle source of food and water for the growing chick and keeps the chick floating.

Chalaza

The structural part of the egg that supports the yolk.

Pipping

The process where a chick uses its "egg tooth" to break through the egg shell; take $12-18\,hr$ or up to $3\,d$.

Crop

An avian digestive organ used as a food storage area.

Proventriculus

The organ where avian digestion begins using stomach enzymes.

Gizzard

The avian organ used to grind food.

Cloaca

The terminal end of the digestive, urinary, and reproductive tracts in poultry.

Shorthorn

A British cattle breed (England) that is the lightest muscled of its types and has marbling similar to Angus.

Charolais

A white, heavily muscled cattle breed from France known for fast growth but poor milk production.

Simmental (Fleckvieh)

A Swiss breed that has the heaviest milk production of the exotic beef breeds.

Limousin

A heavily muscled cattle breed from France, moderate in size and usually red with lighter points or black.

Gelbvieh

A breed from South Germany and Austria, originally wheat or yellow in color, that allows grading up at $\frac{15}{16}$.

Highland

A hardy breed from Scotland with a long hair coat that requires little shelter and adapts well to cold.

Texas Longhorn

A hardy, light-muscled breed with various spotting patterns, influenced by Spanish cattle left in the US.

Brahman

A large-framed, heavily muscled breed developed in the southern US from Indian breeds, heat tolerant and possessing a hump.

Nellore

A cattle breed from India with smaller ears and tighter sheaths than Brahman, very prominent in Brazil.

Brangus

A composite breed developed in the US consisting of $\frac{3}{8}$ Brahman and $\frac{5}{8}$ Angus.

Beefmaster

A breed developed in Falfurrias, TX, consisting of $\frac{1}{2}$ Bos Indicus, $\frac{1}{4}$ Shorthorn, and $\frac{1}{4}$ Hereford.

Santa Gertrudis

A bright red breed developed at King Ranch in TX, consisting of $\frac{5}{8}$ Shorthorn and $\frac{3}{8}$ Bos Indicus.

Simbrah

A composite breed consisting of $\frac{5}{8}$ Simmental and $\frac{3}{8}$ Bos Indicus.

Compensatory gain

Quick weight gain achieved when calves were light for their age or frame before entering a stocker-yearling program.

Heritability ($h^2$)

An estimate of the degree of variation in phenotype in a population explained by genetic variation.

Adjusted 205 day weight

A calculated weaning weight used as a culling tool to level the playing field between calves of different ages and dams.

Gestation (Cattle)

The pregnancy period, averaging approximately $~283$ days ($279-287\,d$).

Estrous cycle

The interval from one estrus to the next, averaging $21$ days in cattle.

Estrus

The period of sexual receptivity or "heat," lasting $15-18$ hours in cattle.

AM/PM rule

A management rule for AI: if a cow is seen in heat in the morning, breed her that evening; if in the evening, breed the next morning.

Infundibulum

The web-like covering surrounding the ovary that picks up the ovum after ovulation.

Ampullary/ Isthmus Junction (AIJ)

The specific site within the oviduct where fertilization occurs.

Corpus luteum (CL)

Known as the "Yellow Body," it forms on the ovary after ovulation and produces progesterone to maintain pregnancy.

Endometrium

The inner lining of the uterus.

Cotyledonary

The type of placental attachment found in cows, ewes, and does where carbuncles and cotyledons mesh.

Colostrum

First milk containing essential antibodies that cannot pass through the placenta in farm animals.

Cryptorchidism

A condition where one (unilateral) or both (bilateral) testes fail to descend into the scrotum.

Testosterone

The primary androgen produced in the Leydig cells located between seminiferous tubules.

Epididymis

The first external duct leading from the testes that matures and concentrates sperm.

Tunica dartos

Smooth muscle in the scrotum that contracts in cold and relaxes in warm temperatures to regulate heat.

Sigmoid flexure

The S-shaped bend in the penis that allows it to retract into the sheath (not found in stallions).

Freemartin

A female calf born twin to a male, often sterile due to shared blood supply in utero.

Libido

The sex drive of male animals.