New Zealand farming. Electric power fencing – Glossary of terms.

Dr Clive Dalton

Amp: Unit of current.  Watts divided by voltage.

Current: It is current and the duration and rat of its low which causes a shock.  Increasing voltage increases current.  Current decreases as resistance increases.

Capacitance: Ability to store a charge of electricity.

Capacitor:  Stores electrical chares and ule as energy which builds up in the capacitor and is released by the SCR switch into the fence at approximately one per second.

Electrolysis:  Corrosion which occurs when different metals are connected in a wet environment such as with electrical connections on a fence line.

Impedance: Combination of resistance, induction, frequency and capacitance (sometimes called AC resistance).

Induction: Power transfer without contact.  For example – charging of dead or neutral fence wires which run parallel to live ones.

Insulator: A material across which current will not flow.

Joule:  Unit of energy. Watts x seconds.  Measures the ‘kick’ of a fence pulse.

Leakage: Loss of power conducted from the fence to the ground, caused by poor insulators, shorts and herbage growth on the wires.

Measurement: 500 ohms (2mS) which is the maximum a human or animal can conduct in the worst conditions e.g. with feet and hands in salt water.  5000 ohms (0.2mS) is the equivalent of a cow touching an electric wire.  ( See Siemens).

Ohm:  Unit of resistance.  The ohm scale is a reverse one – so low numbers indicate heavy load and high numbers indicate a light load.

Outrigger: Electrified wire attached to conventional fence, supported in a way to keep stock from contacting the fence.

Outrigger carrying hot wire on boundary fence

Power consumption: Electricity consumption does not increase with leakageon the fence because most energisers operate on maximum all the time and the VDR’s absorb the unused surplus.

SCR:  Silicon Controlled Rectifier which is a transistorised pulse switch.

Siemens:  Unit of conductance, leakage or load.  Reciprocal of ohm.  1 Siemens = 1 ohm, 1 millisiemens (mS) + 1000 ohms.

VDR:  Voltage dependent resistor. Prevents voltage of more than 5000 volts from leaving the power unit by short circuiting the excess voltage.

Volt:  Unit of electrical pressure which causes current to flow. Voltage = current x resistance.

Watt:  Unit of power – both electrical and mechanical.  746 watts = 1 Horse power.

Acknowledgement of information source:  To Gallagher New Zealand.

New Zealand farming. Deer - Glossary of terms

 

Dr Clive Dalton

Farmed Red deer hinds

Deer in New Zealand

All deer were introduced into New Zealand in the late 1800s by the early European pioneers for sport, after which they multiplied to become classed as noxious pests due to the damage they did to native bush and were then subject to government culling programmes.  Later in the 1960s deer were successfully farmed (see * in list) for the export of venison, velvet and other body parts.

Breeds

*Red

*Fallow

*Wapiti

*Rusa

Virginian (white tail)

Japanese Sika

Sambar

Himalayan Thar

Chamois

Antlers:  Distinct from the permanent horns of sheep, cattle and goats which grow on bone structures which are part of the skull.  Antlers grow anew each year from pedicles which are permanent growths on the frontal bones of the skull. They are shed in September/October (early spring) each year and new growth starts almost immediately.

Bugle:  The  sound made by male Wapiti during the mating season to attract females and to challenge other males.

Coronet: Ring or burr around the base of antlers.

Doe: Mature female used for breeds other than Red deer and sometimes Wapiti.

Havier:  Castrated male deer.

Hind: Mature female Red deer and sometimes Wapiti.

Hummel:  Castrated male deer.

Male deer:

Buck: male Fallow deer.

Bull:  male Wapiti

Stag: male Red deer

Spiker: juvenile male with two spikes which will eventually grow into full antlers.

Juveniles:

Calf:  Red deer and Wapiti.

Fawn: Fallow deer, but also used for other breeds.

Mane: Increased growth of hair on the enlarged neck of male Wapiti and Red deer during the rut.

Palmation: By about their third or fourth season fallow deer develop a distinctive flattening or palmation at the end of their antlers. The edges of the palms are marked by a series of points called spillers or snags.

Pearling: Knobbly or ridged texture or the antlers on some species of deer.

Pedicle: The first part of antler grown on a deer’s head from which the antlers grow.  Often called the button.

Pelage: The coat of deer.

Roar:  The sound made by male deer of some species during the mating season to attract females and challenge other males.  The mating season is sometimes referred to as ‘the roar’.

Rut:  The mating season when males start to attract females and challenge other males.

Slink: Deer calf or fawn in utero valued for its skin.

Snags:  See palmation.

Spillers:  See palmation

Spottie:  Young deer (usually fallow) up to three months old when it still shows the spotted coat pattern.

Young Fallow deer showing spotted coats

Tine:  The points or branches off the main ‘beam’ of antlers.  The number increases each year with age and are given names e.g. brow, bray, tray.

Velvet:  Early vascular growth of antlers before they harden off. Characterised by soft velvet coating which dies and is rubbed off by deer as antlers mature and harden.  Deer are very protective of their antlers when in velvet and avoid challenges among males.

Red deer stags in velvet

Sheep Farm Husbandry - Glossary

Extensive glossary of technical and commonly used farming terms concerned with sheep farming, shearing and wool preparation, and preparation of sheep skins.

By Dr Clive Dalton



SHEEP

• Alpha lambs: Unweaned lambs too heavy for the beta trade, and up to 18-20kg live weight. They are not tail-docked or castrated.
• Beta or bobby lamb: Milk fed lamb fed on the ewe from 1 to 3 weeks of age, going for slaughter at around 14kg live weight. They are not usually tail-docked or castrated.
• Cast-for-age (CFA): Old ewes culled from the flock because of age; usually over 5 years old.
• Cast sheep: Sheep found lying on its back unable to get up, usually because it is heavy in lamb or has a heavy fleece.
• Cryptorchid: There are two meanings. A true cryptorchid is a male with undescended testicle or testicles, but the term is also used to describe a lamb that has been made infertile (ie castrated) by applying a rubber ring below the testicles to remove the scrotum, leaving the testes pushed up against the body (see Castration below).
• Dry ewe: Did not produce a lamb.
• Dry/dry: Did not produce a lamb – barren or did not get pregnant.
• Drift lambing: Where un-lambed ewes are moved quietly from among ewes that have just lambed.
• Easy-care: System where shepherds leave ewes to lamb on their own - called “minimal care”. They go round to help any ewes having problems but cull them later.
• Ewe: Mature female sheep, usually over two years old.
• Fecundity: Ability to produce and rear offspring.
• Fertility: Ability to produce fertile eggs (ova) in the ewe and viable semen in the ram.
• Flock: A group of sheep of any size.
• Flock ram: Non registered ram used in a commercial flock.
• Flushing: Feeding a ewe on a rising plane of nutrition three weeks before mating to stimulate more eggs being shed from the ovary.
• Four-tooth: Four permanent incisors in place - from 21-24 months to 30-36 months old.
• Full mouth: All eight permanent incisors in place - older than 42-46 months.
• Hogget: Young sheep from weaning at 4 months to the time when it’s central permanent incisors erupt at about14-16 months of age. The hogget stage usually ends when they are shorn at around 14 months of age.
• Joining: Putting a ram out to run with ewes.
• Lamb: Young sheep between birth and weaning (up to about 3 to 4 months old). Note: the meat industry uses the term “lamb” for sheep that have not yet got their first pair of permanent incisors, i.e. up to a year old or a little older.
• Long tailer: Male with tail left undocked to indicate that it was not castrated.
• Perinatal lamb mortality: Lambs that die within three days of birth.
• Ram: Male sheep of any age.
• Shear: Term used mainly at saleyards in the South Island for male or female sheep denoting how many times they have been shorn and hence their age, eg one-shear or two-shear ewes. It's more common to see them described them by their teeth.
• Shearling: Male or female sheep 14-16 months of age after being shorn once.
• Stud ram: Ram registered with a breed association or society.
• Tail-up, chaser or follow-up ram: Ram used at the end of joining to mate any late-cycling ewes.
• Six-tooth: Six permanent incisors in place - from 30-36 months to 42-46 months old.
• Slink: Lamb either born dead or died soon after, processed for its skin.
• Teaser: Vasectomised ram.
• Two-tooth: Two central permanent incisors in place - sheep from 12-18 months to 21-24 months old.
• Tupping: Mating or joining (a tup is another name for a ram).
• Weaning: Permanently removing lambs from their mothers.
• Wet/dry: A ewe that produced a lamb but did not rear it.
• Wether: Castrated male.

WOOL

• Bale: Package of wool in a regulation wool pack weighing at least 100kg. The maximum packed weight is 181kg for fleece and lambs wool and 204 for oddments.
• Bale cap: The top of the bale on which you stencil the details.
• Belly wool: Wool from the underside of the sheep.
• Blades: Hand shears.
• Blade shearing: Sheep shorn with the blades leaving more wool on the body for cold conditions.
• Blend: A line of wool resulting from thorough mixing within or between types.
• Body wool: Wool from the main body of the sheep.
• Brand: Coloured mark used for identification of a wool bale or on the side of a sheep.
• Break: A weakness in a wool fibre usually caused by low feeding levels. It causes the fibre to go thin and lose tensile strength.
• Britch wool: Wool off the lower thighs or britch of the sheep.
• Broken: Pieces of wool from which the short dirty ends have been removed.
• Bulk: The resilience of “bounce back” property of wool.
• Burr: Hooked seeds in wool that cause problems in manufacture.
• Catching pen: The pen next to the shearing board that holds the sheep for the shearer.
• Chalkiness: Property by which Down breed wools and very hairy wools reflect light. Sometimes called whiteness.
• Character: A composite term used to describe a staple of wool. The amount of crimp in the staple is an important part of it.
• Classing: Grouping similar wools into saleable lines.
• Clean wool: Scoured or washed wool.
• Clean weight: Weight of clean usable fibre obtained from greasy wool.
• Clip: The wool produced from a farm or group of sheep.
• Coarse wool: Same as “strong” wool characteristic of some breeds.
• Colour: The washability factor of wool. Colour is measured by an instrument and affects wool’s ability to accept dyes.
• Comb: The part of a shearing handpiece that enters the wool to hold it while it is cut by the cutters.
• Condition: The amount of yolk, sand or earth present in greasy wool.
• Core sample: Sample of wool cut from each bale by hollow steel tube under vacuum.
• Cott: Fleece that has become matted during growth.
• Count: The old term to describe the fineness of greasy wool. Now micron measurements are used.
• Crimp: The natural wave formation of wool. In general the smaller the crimps the finer the wool.
• Crossbred wool: Wool produced by Romney, Perendale, Coopworth, Leicester and Lincoln sheep and their crosses – other than with the Merino.
• Crutchings: Wool removed from the rear end (the crutch) of sheep. Normally much coarser than the body wool.
• Cutter: Part of the shearing handpiece that reciprocates across the comb to sever the fibres.
• Dags: Wool contaminated with faeces from the rear of the sheep.
• Dead wool: Wool from a dead sheep.
• Dingy wool: Discoloured wool caused by condition or dust.
• Double fleece: Fleece wool of more than 12 month’s growth.
• Down-type wool: Wool from Down-type meat breeds such as Southdown, Suffolk, Hampshire and their crosses. Sometimes called short-wools.
• Early-shorn wool: Fleece wool usually of 7-10 months growth that hangs lightly together as a fleece.
• Eye clips: Trade term for wool removed from the side of the sheep’s face at crutching.
• Fadge: Package of wool in a wool pack weighing less than 100kg.
• Fibre: Single strand of wool.
• Fleece: Body wool shorn from a sheep.
• Fleeco: Person who handles the newly-shorn fleece in the shearing shed.
• Flyblown wool: Wool contaminated with blowfly maggots. Typed as dead wool.
• Follicle: Structure in the skin out of which a wool or hair fibre grows.
• Fribs: Shorter, tightly curled and discoloured wool from the brisket and four points of the sheep.
• Full wool: Ten to 13 months growth of wool.
• Grab sample: Wool sample drawn at random from the bales in a line. Needs to average 250g per grab and a minimum of 4kg per lot. Placed in display boxes for buyers’ appraisal.
• Grading: Sorting out wool for sale into lines.
• Greasy wool: Wool as shorn from the sheep and containing the natural impurities of wax, suint and dirt.
• Hair: Fibre similar in chemical composition to wool but containing a medulla.
• Halfbred wool: Wool from Corriedale or New Zealand Halfbred or similar sheep containing between one quarter and three quarters Merino blood.
• Handle: The feel of wool.
• Handpiece: The handheld part of the shearing machine.
• Hunger-fine wool: Wool that has grown much finer than normal due to low feeding levels or starvation.
• Kemp: Short white brittle medullated fibres which are shed from the fleece. Common in carpet breeds like the Drysdale and some others such as the Cheviot.
• Lambs wool: Wool shorn from lambs.
• Lanolin: Natural product derived from the grease in wool.
• Line of wool: Several bales of wool of similar type.
• Locks: Short wool that has either fallen through the slats on the wool table or been swept from the shearing board.
• Longwool sheep: Sheep of British origin that grow coarse wool more than 100mm in staple length in 12 months, e.g. Romney, Coopworth, Lincoln and Leicester.
• Lot: Line of wool offered for sale. Minimal number of four bales (460kg) or under special conditions may be offered as a star lot or ten bales.
• Lustre: Sheen characteristic of some coarser wools, e.g. Lincoln and Leicester.
• Medium wool: Middle of the range of a specific type of wool in terms of fibre diameter.
• Medulla: the cavity up the centre of hairy (medullated) fibres.
• Merino wool: Type of wool grown by sheep with more than three quarters Merino blood.
• Micron (µm): Unit used to describe the diameter of a wool fibre. One micron equals one millionth of a metre.
• Moit: Vegetable matte other than seeds and burrs.
• Mulesing: Cutting wrinkled skin from around the anus of Merino sheep.
• Neck wool: Matted collar wool from around the neck of a sheep.
• New wool: Wool used in the manufacture of fabrics for the first time.
• Oddments: Parts of a fleece other than the body wool that are sold separately, e.g. belly, neck, crutchings, locks and pieces.
• Open faced: Breeds with no wool on their heads so they can see easily.
• Overgrown wool: Fleece wool that is more than 12 month’s growth.
• Pieces: Body wool trimmings removed from the fleece when it is skirted after shearing.
• Pizzle stain: Unscourable urine staining in wether and ram belly wool and ewe crutchings.
• Pre-lamb shearing: Shearing ewes during late winter or early spring before lambing.
• Pressing: Compressing loose wool into bales in the shearing shed.
• Quality number: An old subjective system to estimate the fineness and consequent spinning capacity of wool. Based on the Bradford worsted yarn count system,
• Quarterbred wool: Wool from sheep containing between five- and seven-eights Merino blood and the remainder Longwool blood.
• Raddle: Paint, aerosol spray, greasy crayon or chalk used to put a mark on a sheep’s fleece. It must be approved as being scourable.
• Rouseabout or Rousie: General hand working in a shearing shed.
• Sale by sample: Method of displaying wool before an auction where only a sub-sample withdrawn mechanically from the line of wool (minimum of 10 bales), is displayed in a cardboard box for buyer evaluation along with a yield test certificate.
• Scouring: Washing wool to remove the natural impurities of wax, suint and dirt.
• Second cut: Wool fibres which are cut twice during shearing by poor technique. The short pieces are of little value.
• Shearing board: Area in shearing shed where sheep are shorn.
• Shearing gang: Group of people employed by a farmer to shear, sort and bale the wool clip.
• Shearing shed: Building where sheep are shorn.
• Shedhand: Person other than a shearer who works in a shearing shed.
• Shed-up: Confining woolly sheep in a shearing shed before shearing – usually to prevent them getting wet.
• Sheepo: Person in a shearing shed who fills the catching pens. Shearers shout “Sheepo” to indicate their catching pen is empty.
• Sixty-nine: Call made to let shearers and shedhands know ladies or visitors are entering the woolshed.
• Skep: Pronouncied “skip”. A trolley to carry loose wool in a woolstore or mill. Also called a dobbin.
• Skirting: Removing oddments from a fleece after shearing.
• Slipe wool: Wool recovered from pelts in an abbatoir.
• Sound wool: Wool without any weakness in tensile strength.
• Sox: Kempy fibres growing between the sheep’s knee and hoof.
• Stain: Discoloration of wool caused by water, bacteria, fungi and dirt that cannot be scoured out. Examples are – canary stain, log stain.
• Stand: The area on the shearing board where each shearing machine is placed.
• Staple: Naturally formed cluster of fibres in a fleece. Staples are joined by cross fibres which bind the fleece together.
• Star lot: Small sale lot of specialty type wools of usually one to three bales.
• Steely wool: Wool with a shiny appearance that lacks crimp. Associated with copper deficiency.
• Stringy: Wool with a thin staple.
• Strong wool: Wool with a coarse fibre diameter.
• Style: Combined assessment of the degree of excellence or fault of wool.
• Suint: Natural water soluble impurity of wool grease.
• Sweat locks: Short, heavy-condition staples from the upper inside of the legs.
• Sweepo: Person who sweeps the shearing board during shearing.
• Tally: Number of sheep shorn by a shearer or a gang in a nine-hour day, or the number of sheep in a group.
• Tender: Wool with a tensile weakness. A less severe form of break.
• Threequarterbred wool: Wool types judged to be from sheep containing between three-eighths and one-eighth Merino blood and the remainder Longwool blood.
• Tippy wool: Wool with a very pointed tip to the staple.
• Topknot: Wool shorn from the top of a sheep’s head.
• Type: Suitability of wool for a particular form of processing and end use, or the wool from a particular breed.
• Unsound: Wool with a tensile weakness. Incorporates both tender and broken wool.
• Vegetable matter: Seed, small twigs, foliage, chaff or hay embedded in a fleece.
• Webby: Mild entanglement of fibres within a fleece. Early stage of cotting.
• Wigging: Shearing wool from the head of a sheep. Also called topknots or wigs.
• Wool away: The shearers call to clear the wool away from the shearing board.
• Woolblind: Sheep that has so much wool over the face that it cannot see.
• Wool broker: Person or company that prepares and offers a grower’s clip for sale on a fee or commission basis.
• Wool buyer: Person who buys wool from a grower either privately or at auction on behalf of a processor and arranges shipment to the processor.
• Wool classer: Person trained to put wool together in groups of similar types.
• Wool grease: Natural impurities of wool (wax and suint) secreted by glands attached to the wool follicle. Also called yolk.
• Wool merchant: Person or firm trading in wool.
• Wool table: Slatted table on which the fleece is skirted and classed.
• Woolgrower: Anyone who farms sheep to produce wool.
• Woolly hog: Fleece from a hogget unshorn as a lamb.
• Woolpack. Jute or polypropylene bag of regulated dimensions or packing wool.
• Woolscour: Plant where wool is washed or scoured.
• Woolshed: Same as shearing shed.
• Woolstore: Place where wool is prepared and offered for sale.
• Yield: Proportion of usable fibre present in a lot of greasy wool expressed as a percentage.
• Yolk: Natural impurities of wool(wax and suint) secreted by glands attached to the wool follicle.

SHEEP SKINS

• Cockle: Lamb/sheep skin pelt defect. A preventable disease that shows nodules over the pelt surface.
• Dresser skin: Woolly lamb skin suitable for processing into leather with the wool attached for rugs, car seat covers, etc.
• Fellmongering skin: Woolly lamb/sheep skin which has been processed into leather after the wool has been removed.
• Fellmongering: Factory or department of an abbatoir or meat works where wool is removed from lamb/sheep pelts.
• Grain: Surface layer of pelt, hide or leather containing wool or hair follicles.
• Green skin: Undried skin from farm or slaugher facility. Such skins have no keeping quality.
• Paint: Chemical mixture capable of penetrating the skin and loosening the wool fibres.
• Pelt: Lamb/sheep skin after wool has been removed.
• Pickled pelt: Lamb/sheep pelt preserved for export with brine and sulphuric acid. The product from a fellmongery.
• Pinhole: Lamb/sheep pelt defect. Small holes in the grain caused by wool fibres growing in groups. Prevalent in fine wool breeds.
• Ribby pelts: Pelts of wrinkly sheep such as Merino that have restricted value for leather manufacture.
• Skin: Derived from a sheep, goat, deer or possum.
• Slink skin: Derived from a lamb that has either been born dead or died soon after birth, and is processed for its skin.
• Wet blue: Hide or skin tanned with chromium salts which also colour it blue/green and is kept in a wet state.
• Wool pull: Estimate of weight of wool able to be removed from a skin in a fellmongery.
• Wool puller: Person or machine used to remove wool from a lamb/sheep skin after it has been chemically loosened.