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Adjusted weaning weight: An off-the-cow calf weight adjusted to 205 days of age and to mature dam age equivalence.

Animal Unit Month (AUM): Unit of measure for comparing grazing, one unit being the feed required to support a 1,000 lb. mature beef cow and her calf for one month or about 800 lbs. of air dried typical rangeland forage.

As Fed: The feeding of feed that contains its normal amount of moisture.

Artificial insemination (AI): Deposition of preserved bull semen into the reproductive tract of the cow other than by natural service. The semen is usually stored frozen with an extender in straws held in liquid nitrogen and is thawed before being inserted through the cervix with an insemination gun.

Average Daily Gain (ADG): The average pounds of liveweight gain per day over a period of time.

Beef Improvement Federation (BIF): Organization that establishes the standards for performance evaluation of beef cattle.

Birth weight: The weight of a calf within 24 hours of birth. Heavier than breed average birth weights tend to be correlated with with dystocia.

Break Even: The minimum product price that a farm can receive for its product without loosing money, usually measured in one hundred pound units of milk (dairy) or of weaned calf (cow-calf operations) or fed cattle (feed lot).

British breeds:  Breeds of cattle, such as Angus, Hereford, and Shorthorn, that originated in Great Britain.

Bulk Tank: A refrigerated milk storage tank on a dairy farm where milk is collected for shipment.

Bull: Bovine male, usually denoting animals past puberty.

Bullock: Young bull, typically less than 20 months of age.

Bunker Silo: Pit or bunker for storage of corn or grain silage or alfalfa or grass haylage in which it is preserved by fermenting after packing.

Calf: Young male or female bovine animal under 1 year of age.

Calf Crop: Beef - Number live calves produced within a herd in a given year divided by the number of cows and heifers exposed to the bull during the breeding season.

Calf Hutch: Individual housing unit for young calves during the first 4 to 8 weeks of life to reduce transmission of neonatal diseases.

Calf Starter: Grain-based mix fed to young calves to develop their rumen while they are on a liquid or milk-based diet. Rumen development is stimulated by volatile fatty acids from fermentation of the starch in grain.

Calving Interval: The time between one calving and the next. Typical target is 13.5 months, longer intervals leading to lower lifetime milk production.

CMT/WMT: California Mastitis Test or Wisconsin Mastitis Test. CMT is a cowside test that is a crude measures the milk somatic cell count as a screen for subclinical mastitis. The WMT is a laboratory procedure which is a more precise measure of somatic cell count, although it is not as precise as a direct count.

Colostrum: The antibody-rich first milk after calving. Because of the type of placenta in the bovine, the antibodies are not able to cross the placenta to the fetus like they do in the human and the pig and the calf is borne agammaglobinemic. To be of maximum benefit, colostrum must be carefully selected, held and appropriately fed.

Commodity Feed: Feeds purchased in bulk from off farm sources, often providing either high energy (e.g., corn), high protein (e.g., cottonseed meal), or some other highly digestible feedstuff to the ration.

Commodity Product: A product that is not differentiated by branding or other distinction that commands a higher price in the market.

Compensatory Gain: Above normal growth rate that occurs after a period of reduced growth, often due to previous nutritional limitations.

Concentrate: Feed components that are high in energy, low in fiber and highly digestible. Fed incorrectly, concentrates lead to ruminal acidosis.

Crossbreed: Animal with parents from different breeds, (Hereford x Black Angus = "Black Baldy"). Purposeful crossbreeding is done to take advantage of hybrid vigor and advantages of each breed.

Cull Cow: Cow targeted for removal or removed from the herd, usually due to low profitability which is generally due to poor production, reproduction failure, mastitis or other chronic condition impairing productivity.

Custom Calf Raiser: An operation specializing in the rearing of calves from birth to post-weaning for several dairy farms that typically retain ownership of the calves.

Custom Feeder: An operator that does not own the cattle being fed but provides the feed, facilities, labor and health care for a fee.

CWT: Abbreviation for hundredweight (100 lb).

Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA): The organization that establishes the standards for the performance evaluation of dairy cattle.

Days Fresh: The number of days since calving and beginning lactation. Same as Days in Milk.

Days Open: The number of days between calving (parturition) and conception. Target is 80 days and should be less than 120 days for a 13.5 month calving interval..

Days in Milk (DIM): The number of days a cow has been milking in her current lactation, same as "days fresh". The average herd days in milk should be around 150 DIM.

Dry Cow: A cow that is not lactating and, in beef, is not pregnant.

Dry Off: The process of transition from lactation to non-lactation (dry period). This is often accomplished by stopping milking and changing and restricting feed.

Dry Matter: Feed from which all the water has been removed.

Dry Matter Intake (DMI): A measure of the actual nutrients ingested. The weight of feed consumed if the actual feed consumed contained no water (100% dry matter) instead of "as fed". Daily dry matter intake ranges from 1 to 3% of bodyweight for a adult dry cow on pasture to 4.5% or so for a lactating dairy cow.

Dry Period: The period when a cow is not lactating after a lactation. The dry period was believed to be required for rejuvenation of secretory parenchyma but recent research suggests it is not as important for this purpose as previously thought..

Dry Cow Therapy: Antibiotic therapy administered into the four quarters of the udder at the onset of the nonlactating period of the cow. It is intended to cure existing intramammary infections and to protect against acquiring new ones during the dry period.

Expected Progeny Difference (EPD): The expected performance of the future progeny of a dam or sire compared to that expected from other dams or sires in the herd or sire summary.

Fat Corrected Milk (FDM): Adjustment of milking production records to reflect the energy cost of fat production.

Feed Efficiency: The pounds of feed required to produce a pound of gain or a pound of milk. Because feed is the single greatest cost of production, maintaining high feed efficiency is important in dairy and feedlot production.

Feeder: A weaned calf that is ready for placement in a feedlot.

Feedlot (feedyard): Facility in which cattle are held in pens and feed high energy diets, comprised primarily of grains, typically for 90 to 120 days.

Feedlot Lingo (AS-1161, G Lardy, NDSU Cattlemen's Guide to Feedlot Lingo, Feedlot Terms and Lingo (U Missouri Premier Beef Program))

Finished (Fat) Cattle: Cattle at the end of the feeding process that are ready to be marketed to packing plants.

Forage: A feed that consists of the entire aerial part of the plant including stems and leaves, such as grazed grass or alfalfa hay. Nutrient quality of forage varies from high prior to seed formation to low afterwards (mature).

Free Stall: Individual stall that allows the cow to enter and lay down or leave on her free will. These are usually in rows with pipe loops forming each stall and are bedded with sand, wood shavings, rubber mattresses or other materials to provide a comfortable surface for the cow. Proper design of the separating loop, the stall depth, construction and bedding are crucial to maintaining cow comfort and to reducing manure contamination of bedding.

Free Stall Barn: Housing for cattle in which free stalls are aligned in rows, usually with a feed alley on one side and cow alleys between the rows of free stalls. Proper design for manure removal, adequate air exchange, cow cooling and cow movement is critical to cow health, welfare and production. Most common housing type in the Northwest.

Fresh: A cow that has recently calved. Typically when many health problems occur.

Freshening: Parturition, calving. Typically the riskiest period in an adult dairy cow's life.

Fresh/High/Low String: Fresh cows, high producing cows and low producing cows are separated from each other and placed into management groups (strings) in separate pens to minimize stress after calving, to optimize ration inputs for milk output and for reproductive management.

Futures Market: Market for trading contracts on inputs (e.g., feed, cattle) or outputs (e.g., milk, livestock products) used by producers to manage market risk or for speculation.

Gestation Period: Duration of pregnancy; typically 285 days for the bovine.

Grade (Commercial) Cow: A cow that is not registered.

Hay: A forage that has been dried in the field after cutting and is stored in loose stacks or bales. Because after it is cut it must dry sufficiently to prevent molding during storage, hay is susceptible to rain damage during harvest. Nutritional quality varies considerably due to the season of the year, plant maturity and harvest conditions.

Heat: Estrus. Period of fertility when the cow is receptive to the male and is indicated by mounting and standing behavior. It only lasts 24 hours in the bovine and occurs every 21 days after puberty and the cow is not pregnant.

Heifer: Young female bovine from birth to starting her first lactation having calved for the first time. Optimal age at first calving is 21 to 24 months of age.

Herd: Group of cattle (usually cows) that are in a similar management program.

Herd Summary: Summary statistics for herd production, reproduction, health, and demographic factors (e.g., average age, stage of pregnancy, stage of lactation). These are important snapshots for evaluating herd performance.

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Implant: A steroid-containing plug inserted subcutaneously in the skin of the ear that improves feed efficiency 5 to 10% and daily gain 5 to 15%.

Income over Feed Cost: Because feed usually is the single largest cost on a farm (buying, growing or harvesting it), this measure of the most important measures of profitability of livestock farms.

Integrated Resource Management (IRM): Multidisciplinary approach to managing cattle more efficiently and profitably; management decisions are based on how all resources are affected.

Ionophore: A unique, non-therapeutic class of antibiotics that improve feed efficiency when feed to ruminants.

Lactation Curve: A graphic plot of days in milk vs. pounds of milk produced, typically rising quickly after calving, peaking between 60 and 90 days in milk and then tapering down at a constant slope.

Lactation: The time a cow is producing milk, typically 305 days or longer.

Load: The number of cattle that can be hauled in a large livestock trailer ("pot" for potbelly), which ranges from 100 calves, 72 yearlings to 40 finished (fat) cattle.

Loafing Area: Area of farm, often associated with free stalls and milking barn, where animals are free to exercise and move voluntarily.

Mature Equivalent (ME): A cow reaches maturity at 7 years of age (5^th lactation) and thus records can be adjusted for what her production is expected to be at maturity. Allows comparison among herd mates at different ages.

Mature Weight: Beef - mature females typically weight 900 to 1,300 lbs., depending on breed, frame size and body condition (fatness).

Milk Replacer: A substitute for feeding whole milk to calves, generally consisting of milk by-products and/or plant products that is mixed with water to approximate milk. The higher quality replacers contain only milk-origin protein and contain higher protein and fat percentages.

Milk Fat Test: The percentage of fat in the milk. To be legal, whole milk must contain at least 3.25% fat.

Milking Machine: The system that removes milk from the udder that is comprised of the rubber inflations that massage each teat with vacuum cycling controlled by the pulsator, the claw that holds the four inflations as a unit and brings the milk flow together and the automatic detacher that senses the end of milk flow from the udder, stops the vacuum and removes the unit from the udder.

Milking Parlor: Area in which cows are milked. Cows first enter a a holding pen where their udders are often prewashed automatically. Then they enter the actual milking area in groups equal to the number of milking machine, the three most common types being Herringbone, Parallel and Rotary Parlors, where their udders are prepared and the automatic milking machine applied.

Open: Not pregnant.

Parity: Number of offspring a female has had.

Peak Milk: Maximum daily milk yield during lactation. A good peak yield is 100-120 lbs for the Holstein and occurs between 60-90 days in milk, the earlier and higher the peak the more milk the cow will produce in lactation.

Pelvic Size: The narrowest cross-sectional area of the birth canal within the pelvis.

Polled: Breed that naturally does not grow horns. Horns are a major source of damage to each other.

Preconditioning: Special preparation of feeder calves to reduce future stress and disease, which may include vaccinations prior to weaning, dehorning and castrating and introduction to bunk feeding ("bunk broke").

Production Cycle: The stages of production of an operation, which for dairies and cow-calf operations is based on the reproductive and gestation cycle of the cow from conception through calving to rebreeding to dryoff to calving again.

Production Testing: Testing daily milk production (dairy) or weaning weight of calves (beef). The standard national program for dairy is the Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) or Beef Improvement Federation (BIF). The purpose is to measure within herd productivity for culling purposes and to select for superior genetic PTA.

PTA: Predicted transmitting ability. Genetic merit of parent that will be transmitted to its progeny.

Puberty: Onset of sexual maturity, such as ovarian cycling. Puberty occurs at around 45 to 55% of the mature body weight and the ability to carry a pregnancy to term occurs when conception is at 60 to 65% of mature body weight. Bos indicus (Brahman) are later maturing than Bos taurus and within Bos taurus, dairy breeds are earlier maturing than beef breeds. Onset is impacted by season, plane of nutrition, parasitism, testicular size of sire and other factors.

Registered Cow (Purebred): Cow that has a pedigree and is registered in the herdbook of a breed Association. The 6 major dairy breeds are the Holstein, Jersey,  Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey and Milking Shorthorn. Major Bos tarus beef breeds are the Angus (Black and Red), the Hereford (Horned and Polled) and the Simmental and Bos tarus are the Brahman.

Replacement Heifer: A heifer calf selected as a future replacement for a cow in the herd, either from birth or by purchasing. Replacement rates are typically between 25%-33% of the herd per year.

Rolling Herd Average: The most recent average 305-day production for cows in the herd. Current average daily milk per cow times 305 days approximates the rolling herd average.

Roughage: A feed which is fed for its fiber content to stimulate rumination or for its low cost to met the animals maintenance requirement.

Ruminant: Mammal whose stomach has four parts. Calves are born functioning as monogastrics and become functional ruminants after sufficient development of their rumen.

Service: Breed

Services per conception: The number of AI or natural services needed to achieve pregnancy (conception). Goal is an average of 2-2.5 Services per conception.

Settle: Become pregnant ("with calf").

Shrink: Loss of weight that occurs due to weaning, moving, handling or transporting, usually due to loss of gut fill and measured as a percentage of the animal's body weight. High percentages of shrink mean the animal has been severely stressed by the process and is at higher risk of subsequent diseases such as bovine respiratory disease (BRD).

Silage: Fermented forage, a feed that is typically harvested at 30-60% dry matter, chopped, packed and allowed to ferment under anaerobic conditions in a bunker, pit, silo or bag to prevent it from rotting. Improperly processed silage can be the sources of diseases such as listeriosis and botulism as well as poor nutrition.

Somatic Cell Count: An indicator of mastitis, the accumulation of cells, chiefly leukocytes, in the milk in response to an antigen. Goal: greater than 95% of all cows with counts less than 200,000 cells/ml milk, and a bulk tank (herd average) count of <200,000 cells/ml.

Somatic Cell Count: Leukocytes and epithelial cells in milk. Count will increase with mastitis.

Springer: A heifer or cow that is due to calve shortly and is showing signs of impending parturition (springing).

Stanchion Barn: A stall barn where cows are tied into their stall, the style of housing typical for small dairies in areas with severe winter conditions such as the midwest.

Steer: Male bovine that has been castrated (testicles removed) prior to puberty.

Stocker: Weaned calf that is grazed (backgrounding) before going into the feedlot and being fed high energy diets.

Straightbred: An animal with both parents of the same breed.

Strip: To remove several streams of milk prior to attaching the claw or removing the residual milk from the mammary gland (udder) at the end of milking..

"Tail Enders": Cow producing low levels of milk at the end of their lactation and advanced pregnancy.

Total Mixed Ration (TMR): All the feed ingredients (mineral, vitamins, grains) are mixed together in a nutritionally balanced ration and fed to the cow rather than being fed individually and allowing the cow to determine the amount of each that she eats. The mixing process is critical to prevent component separation and maintain appropriate fiber length.

Udder: The mammary gland of the female, which is comprised of four quarters and teats.

Upright Silo: Storage unit for high moisture feed, generally silage, that is vertical. These are common on smaller dairies but are expensive to maintain and operate and lack sufficient capacity for large dairies. They also produce silo gas in early stages of fermentation, which can kill humans and cows.

Weaner: A calf around weaning age.

Weaning: Dairy - Liquid feeding of the calf is stopped, usually when the rumen has reached full function so that the calf is able to digest plant-based feeds, and they are often grouped for the first time. Beef - suckling is prevented from occurring, usually by separating the calf from the cow by moving either  to a different arear. Weaning is a very stressful event for calves if it is not managed well.

Wet Cow Average: Average milk production by lactating cows. Goal is at least  70 to 80 lbs/cow/day, 21,000-24,000 per year with some elite herds producing over 100 lbs per cow per day.

Withdrawal Time: The time meat must be withheld from sale from a treated individual to avoid sale of meat containing antibiotic or drug residues.

Withholding Time: Time milk must be withheld from sale from a treated individual to avoid shipping of milk containing drug or antibiotic residues that may be harmful to cheese processing or humans.

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Yearling: Animal over one year of age, "short yearling"1 yr. to 18 months of age, "long yearling"18 months to 2 years.