ANIMAL TERMINOLOGY- LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

ANIMAL TERMINOLOGY- LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

Act of giving birth– Parturition, or birth or childbirth or labour or delivery, is the process of bringing forth a child from the uterus, ending pregnancy.

Age at first calving– The desirable age at first calving in Indian cattle breed is 3 years, 2 years in cross breed cattle and 3.5 years in Buffaloes. Prolonged age at first calving results in high production in the first lactation but the life time production will be decreased due to less no of calving. If the age at first calving is below optimum, the calves born are weak, difficulty in calving and less milk production in first lactation.

Artificial insemination– Artificial insemination is the introduction of sperm into a female’s cervix for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy. It is a common practice in animal breeding, including dairy cattle and pigs.

Colostrum– Colostrum is a breast fluid produced by humans, cows, and other mammals before breast milk is released.

It’s very nutritious and contains high levels of antibodies, which are proteins that fight infections and bacteria.

Colostrum promotes growth and health in infants and newborn animals, but bovine colostrum supplements may promote immunity, help fight infections, and improve gut health throughout life.

Conception– The process of becoming pregnant, involving fertilization and implantation of the embryo in the uterus is called conception.

Creep– It refers to that place which is used for feeding of lamb, calves and piglet but not for adult animals.

Diet– It is the food consumed by animal at a time to satisfy his/her appetite.

Ration– A ration is the feed allowed for a given animal during a day for 24-hours. The feed may be given at a time or in portion at intervals. Ration is that amount of food given to an animal to satisfy his/her appetite in 24-hours.

Dry period– It is the period started from the stop of milk production to next calving. When the animal in pregnancy, before next calving.

The animal should be given rest period to compensate for growth of fetus. A minimum of 2 – 2 ½ months dry period should be allowed. If the optimum dry period is not given, the animals suffer from stress and in next lactation, the milk production drops substantially with birth of weak calves. If the dry period given is too high, it may not have that much effect on increasing milk yield in the next lactation, but it decrease the production in the present lactation.

Gestation– In mammals, the time between conception and birth, during which the embryo or fetus is developing in the uterus. The length of gestation varies from species to species. The shortest known gestation is that of the Virginian opossum, about 12 days, and the longest that of the Indian elephant, about 22 months.

Inter-calving period– This is the period between two successive calving. It is more profitable to have one calf yearly in cattle and at least one calf for every 15 months in buffaloes. If the calving interval is more, the total no. of calving in her life time will be decreased and also total life production of milk decrease.

Lactation period– The length of milk producing period after calving is known as lactation period.

Lactation yield– The lactation yield in a lactation period is known as lactation yield. The lactation yield in Indian breeds is very low compared to exotic breeds. Normally in dairy cattle 30-40 % increase in milk production from first lactation to maturity is observed. After 3 or 4 lactation the production starts declining. After parturition the milk yield per day will be increased and reaches peak within 2-4 weeks after calving. This yield is known as peak yield.

Service– The process in which mature male covers the female is called service.

Service period– It is the period between date of calving and date of successful conception.

The optimum service period helps the animal to recover from the stress of calving and also to get back the reproductive organs back to normal. If the service period is too prolonged the calving interval prolonged, results in less number of calving and ultimately less life time production. If the service period is too short, the animal will become weak and persistency of milk production becomes poor due to immediate pregnancy.

Zoonosis– A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans. Zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral or parasitic, or may involve unconventional agents and can spread to humans through direct contact or through food, water or the environment.

Different type of meat

Beef- Meat of cattle/buffalo.

Pork- Meat of pig/swine.

Mutton, hogget, lamb- Meat of sheep.

Chevon, cabrito, capretto- Meat of goat.

Poultry Related Terms

Crowding– Overcrowding in the poultry house which gives less opportunity for exercise and the less active birds pick up vices.

Cannibalism– Cannibalism is a condition in which birds of a flock attack their pen mate and eat its flesh, which may impose deep wounds and heavy mortality.

Vent pecking is common in laying birds. Once the birds adopt this vice it spreads rapidly through the flock.

Poultry farmer must remain vigilant to prevent cannibalism as it has got no direct treatment.

Debeaking– The most recent and cheapest way to avoid cannibalism is debeaking which can be done right from the day old chicks to any age.

Debeaking can be done either manually or mechanically. Mechanical way of debeaking has an advantage that it does not require second cutting of beak which is sometimes required in case of manual debeaking. One-third of the upper beak and tip of the lower beak is to be cut.

Culling– Culling refers to the identification and removal of the non-laying or low producing hens from a laying flock. It would be more profitable to eliminate poor or non-layers early in their life than to wait until later. Birds of low vigour, slow maturing, should be culled during the growing period itself before they are shifted to the layer house. Removing the inferior birds reduces the cost of producing eggs, reduces the incidence of disease and increases the available space for high producing hens.

Incubation– It is the process by which egg-laying animals hatch their eggs; it also refers to the development of the embryo within the egg under favorable environmental condition. In many species a constant and particular temperature is necessary for successful incubation.

Brooding– Especially in poultry, the act of sitting on eggs to incubate them is called brooding. The action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs is also called broodiness, and most egg-laying breeds of poultry have had this behavior selectively bred out of them to increase production.

Hatching– Hatching of eggs refers to the production of baby chicks. In early days eggs were hatched by placing them under broody hens.

Desi hens proved to be ideal for this purpose. Only 10-12 eggs can be put under 1 hen. This method of hatching is highly unsatisfactory for large-scale production of baby chicks.

Incubators, which provide similar environment as that of broody hens, but more efficiently, are used at present for hatching of eggs.

Type of milk

Whole milk– Whole milk is cow’s milk that hasn’t had its fat content stripped. The milk retains its fat (about 3.5 percent) and is slightly thick.

Standardized milk– Milk that has been standardized to contain a minimum of 1.5% fat and 9.0% solids not fat.

Double toned milk– Milk that has been standardized to contain a minimum of 1.5% fat and 9.0% solids not fat.

Skimmed milk– Skim milk, (also known as fat-free or non-fat milk) contains no fat at all. This processing lowers calories and slightly alters the milk’s taste. Milk from which almost all the milk fat has been removed by the process of separation is called skimmed milk. It has negligible fat content (0.5%) and is good for people who want to avoid consuming fat.

Toned milk– Milk that has been standardized to contain a minimum of 3.0% fat and 8.5% solids not fat.

SNF (Solids Not Fat)– It refers to the solids, excluding milk fat, in milk. That is, it refers to protein, carbohydrate and salt/ash in milk.

Milk processing

Bactofugation– Process designed for removal of bacteria from milk by means of centrifugation. It is simply physical separation and does not involve any chemical treatment of milk.

Homogenization– Homogenization is the process of breaking down the fat globules in milk from their original size of 0.1 to 15 µm to a more uniform and smaller size of 2 µm or less. This ensures that milk fat does not separate and form a creamy layer on top. However, one does not get ‘malai’ in homogenized milk even if it may contain the same amount of fat as in unhomogenized milk. Homogenized milk is whiter, feels richer in mouth and is better for making tea but is not useful if you are looking for a creamy layer on the top surface of milk in a container.

Pasteurization– It is a process involving heating of milk (temperature/time = 630C/30 minutes or 720C/15 seconds or equivalent) followed with rapid cooling to 100C or less. Heating destroyed all disease causing microorganisms making milk safe for consumption. But some microorganisms are still left after heating which cannot cause disease, but can grow/multiply and spoil milk by souring/curdling. Rapid cooling slows down growth/multiplication of microorganisms. Hence, pasteurization makes the milk safe for consumption and also prevents its spoilage till the date declared on pack of milk when kept cool under refrigeration.

Sterilization– The term sterilization, when used in association with milk, means heating milk in a sealed container continuously to a temperature of either 115 ^oC for 15 minutes or equivalent.  It frees the milk of all microorganisms and, hence, sterilized milk can be stored at room temperature (no refrigeration) for prolonged periods (e.g. six months) in an unopened original pack.

Fortification– Fortified milk is cow’s milk that contains extra vitamins and minerals that are not naturally found in milk in significant amounts. Typically, vitamins D and A are added to milk sold. However, milk can be fortified with various other nutrients, including zinc, iron, and folic acid (2Trusted Source).

Important Table

Table 1

Table 2

Common name, Genus & species with Diploid chromosome

Table 3

The act of giving birth in different animals with the term used are-

Table 4

Gestation period, oestrous cycle, heat period

Table 5

Incubation period, chromosome number and age at sexual maturity in different species of poultry

See also…
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY MCQ PART 1