Units 4–5 Livestock Production and Animal Welfare Vocabulary

Vocabulary-style flashcards defining core terms, species names, management practices, and welfare concepts across Units 4 and 5.

Hay

Alfalfa or grass cut, dried, baled, and stored for later feeding.

Silage

Cereal crops or corn cut and processed before maturity, stored to maintain moisture and ferment.

Greenfeed

Cereal crops cut before maturity, allowed to dry in swaths, then baled.

Cow-Calf Production

A beef production system in which cows are maintained to produce calves that are later weaned and moved through the beef production chain.

Dystocia

Difficult calving.

Neonatal Calf Scours

A common neonatal disease and problem that can make spring calving a very busy period for veterinary practices.

BBSE

Bull Breeding Soundness Evaluation; an assessment to determine whether a bull is suitable for breeding.

Backgrounding

Growing or weaning calves before they enter a feedlot, typically developing frame and weight before finishing.

Feedlot

A production system where cattle are intensively fed a high-energy ration to finish them for market.

Lactation Curve

The pattern of milk production across a cow's lactation, with production highest during early lactation and then declining.

Somatic Cell Count (SCC)

An indicator used to assess milk quality and udder health, particularly inflammation or mastitis.

Equus caballus

The horse, possessing 32 pairs of chromosomes.

Equus asinus

The ass or donkey, possessing 31 pairs of chromosomes.

Feral Horse

A free-roaming horse of domesticated stock that fends for itself without human assistance.

Przewalski’s Horse

A wild equid native to the steppes of Central Asia with 33 chromosome pairs; noted as the only truly wild horse alive today.

Equus hemionus

The onager or Asiatic wild ass, possessing 27 chromosomes.

PMU Barns

Facilities collecting pregnant mares' urine for hormone replacement therapy products such as Premarin.

Hind-gut Fermenters

Animals (such as horses) that possess an enlarged cecum to break down grasses and roughage.

Lethal White Syndrome

A genetic defect associated with overo $\times$ overo breeding where homozygous foals are born white with blue eyes and lack functional intestinal nerves, becoming fatal within about 3 days.

Jack

A male donkey.

Jenny

A female donkey.

Mule

The usually sterile offspring of a jack donkey and a mare.

Hinny

The usually sterile offspring of a stallion and a jenny; typically smaller than a mule.

Ovine

The veterinary term for sheep.

Mutton

Meat from mature sheep.

Gregarious

A trait in sheep describing their strong preference to flock together, as being alone leaves them vulnerable.

Precocial

Description of young (such as lambs) born in a relatively advanced state, possessing good vision/hearing and the ability to stand and feed shortly after birth.

Lanolin

The natural oil in wool that helps make it water-repellent and protects the sheep from cold rain and snow.

Crutching

Shearing wool around the vulva and udder, particularly when lambing in cold conditions, to aid in lambing management.

Flushing

Increasing a ewe's nutrition and energy intake around breeding (about 2 weeks before and 2–4 weeks after) to optimize ovulation, conception, and embryo implantation.

Creep Feeding

Providing lambs access to specialized, palatable feed before weaning to promote rumen development and acclimate them to grain.

Chevon

Goat meat; the name is derived from the French word for goat.

Doe

An adult female goat.

Doeling

A first-time bred female goat.

Buck

An adult male goat.

Kid

A young goat.

Barrow

A male pig castrated before sexual maturity.

Boar

An intact male pig.

Gilt

A young female pig that has not produced a litter.

Sow

A female pig that has given birth to at least one litter.

Farrow-to-Finish

A comprehensive swine production system containing all phases from breeding through gestation, farrowing, nursery, growing/finishing, and market.

SPF Herd

Specific Pathogen-Free herd; a swine herd managed to be free of a specified list of pathogens to control disease and enhance biosecurity.

Pecking Order

The social hierarchy established within a poultry flock.

Broiler

A chicken raised primarily for meat production.

Cage-Layer Fatigue

A condition in laying hens involving skeletal weakness or fragility, often linked to high calcium demands during egg production.

Plains Bison

Bison bison; characterized by a rounded hump, frizzy head hair, prominent chaps of long hair on the forelegs, and a larger, rounded beard.

Wood Bison

Bison athabascae; larger than Plains bison, with a square hump, long straight hair sloping down the forehead, little or no chap hair on forelegs, and a smaller pointed beard.

Wapiti

Another name for elk, a species belonging to the cervid family.

Elk Velvet

The growing, vascularized antler tissue harvested from developing antlers.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

A serious disease concern of cervids managed through testing, surveillance, and herd health protocols.

Ratite

A group of flightless birds that includes ostriches, emus, and rheas.

Animal Welfare

The physical and mental state and well-being of an animal where it lives and dies.

Five Freedoms

A welfare framework encompassing freedom from hunger and thirst; discomfort; pain, injury and disease; fear and distress; and freedom to express normal behavior.

Five Domains Model

A framework used to assess animal welfare through nutrition, physical environment, health/functioning, behavioral interactions, and mental experiences.

Stereotypic Behavior

Repetitive, relatively invariant behavior that has no obvious immediate function, often associated with poor welfare or chronic stress.

Animal Hoarding

A deviant form of the human-animal bond in which a person accumulates more animals than they can adequately care for and fails to recognize welfare problems.

Cosmetic Ear Cropping

Surgical alteration of a dog's ears performed for appearance rather than for medical treatment.

Tail Docking

Surgical removal of part of an animal's tail.

Debarking

A convenience surgery intended to reduce the volume of a dog's vocalization.

Declawing

Surgical removal/amputation of the distal portion of a cat's toes to prevent claw usage.

CAZA

Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums.

AZA

Association of Zoos and Aquariums; a primary North American accrediting organization for zoos and aquariums.

Telos

The natural, unique characteristics of an animal that reflect what makes it behave as its species does.

Zoochosis

Stereotypic or abnormal repetitive behavior associated with the chronic stresses or constraints of captivity.

Ethogram

A structured catalogue of behaviors used to observe and quantify an animal's behavior.

IUCN Red List

A comprehensive global resource assessing the extinction risk and conservation status of species.

Species Survival Plan (SSP)

An AZA program designed to support the survival of selected endangered species through coordinated breeding, research, education, and genetic management.

Penetrating Captive Bolt

A device that drives a bolt through the skull into the brain, causing concussion and brain trauma to render the animal unconscious.

Pithing

Physical disruption of brain tissue performed through the captive-bolt entry hole, used only on animals not intended for human consumption.