an animal from which milk production is intended for use or sale for human consumption, or is kept for raising replacement dairy animals.

group of dairy cattle having a common origin and identifiable traits (frequently colour).

physical traits that suggest high milking ability.  Important indications of this include an alert, feminine head; long thin neck; openness and sharpness throughout; prominent hips and pins; sharp withers; thin thighs; flat flinty bone; and thin, pliable hide with a soft silky hair coat.  See bloom.

milk products relatively rich in fat in the form of a spreadable emulsion principally of the type of water-in-milk fat that remains in solid phase at a temperature of 20 °C. (Codex Alimentarius)

any goat from which milk production is intended for human consumption, or is kept for raising replacement dairy kids.

group of dairy goats having a common origin and identifiable traits (frequently colour).  

names, designations, symbols, pictorial or other devices which refer to or are suggestive, directly or indirectly, of milk or milk products. (Codex Alimentarius)

the female parent of any dairy animal.

amount by which a daughter of a bull differs in yield or other traits from the average of cows of other bulls' daughters of the same breed in the same herd during the same period.

the number of days during the present lactation that the animal has been milking.

a term commonly used for non-pregnant farm mammals.

that protein or nitrogen degraded in the rumen by micro-organisms into microbial protein or freed as ammonia.

to remove horns from animals or to treat young animals so horns will not develop.

the chemical or biological reduction of nitrate or nitrite to gaseous nitrogen, either as molecular nitrogen (n2) or as an oxide of nitrogen (n2o).

the chemical substance that is the principal nuclear material of cells.  The structure of DNA determines the structure of ribonucleic acid which, in turn, determines the structure of proteins of the cell.

inflammation of skin as evidenced by itching, redness, and a variety of skin lesions.

to recognize a disease and its cause.

excessive evacuation of watery faeces.

a chemical compound found in spoiled sweet clover and lespedeza hays.  It is an anticoagulant and can cause internal haemorrhages when ingested by cattle.

that percentage of food ingested which is absorbed into the body as opposed to that which is excreted as faeces.

that portion of energy of a feed that can be digested or absorbed into the body by an animal.

the amount of protein of feed that is absorbed by the digestive tract; it may be computed using the formula:  percent DP = percent crude protein of feed x digestion coefficient for protein in the feed.

the Digestion Coefficient of Feed Ingredients (DCFI) may be calculated using the formula: wt. of ingredient consumed -- wt. Of undigested ingredient in faeces DCFI = WT. of ingredient consumed x 100.

see days in milk

microscopic count of the actual number of somatic cells in milk.

microscopic count of the actual number of somatic cells in milk.

a drug or agent used to increase flow of urine.

see dry matter

dry matter intake.

see deoxyribonucleic acid.

removing the tail for sanitation purposes.

a sexually mature female goat.

a female goat from one to two years old, or from one year old until first parturition.

describes a gene that covers up the physical expression of its paired allele or recessive gene.

genetically superior cows from which embryos are collected and transferred to recipients to allow these cows to produce a greater number of offspring than possible in a normal reproduction scheme.

this refers to standardization of milk for both fat and non-fat solids (or protein).

dried milk is made from whole milk; non-fat dry milk is manufactured from skim milk.  In drying milks, about 95 to 98 percent of the water is removed by concentrating the solids in vacuum pans and then drying by spraying milk into a chamber of hot air or onto a slowly revolving heated drum under vacuum.

composite milk products (...) obtained by mixing fermented milk (...) with potable water with or without the addition of other ingredients such as whey, other non-dairy ingredients, and flavourings. Drinks Based on fermented milk contain a minimum of 40% (m/m) fermented milk. (Codex Alimentarius)

describes a non-lactating female. The dry period of dairy animals is the time between lactations (when a female is not secreting milk).

any cow that has calved at least once and is not producing milk.

first calendar day the animal is not milked (see dry period).

a relatively small area in which cattle are confined indefinitely as opposed to being allowed to have free access to pasture.

the moisture-free content of feeds.

to change a lactating animal to a non lactating one. See involution.

period of non-lactation following a period of lactation.

or difficult labour (parturition), causing difficulty in delivering the foetus and placenta.