ANIMAL SCIENCE TERMS

A. General terms
1. Parturition – act of giving birth
Specific terms:
a. Calving – act of giving birth in cows
b. Farrowing – act of giving birth in sows
c. Kidding – act of giving birth in does
d. Foaling – act of giving birth in mares
e. Lambing – act of giving birth in ewes
2. Gestation – period of pregnancy; period from conception until birth
3. Conception – implantation of the zygote.
4. Dam – female parent
5. Sire – male parent
6. Fertility – in female, is the ability to produce fertilizable ova and to provide
proper environment for and of initiating cell division and embryonic
development;
- in male, is the ability to produce large number of sperms capable of
fertilization
7. Fecundity (or prolificacy) – ability to give birth to offspring frequently or
numerous young at frequent intervals.
8. Sterility – inability to produce normal young
9. Impotency – failure to copulate
10. Puberty – sexual maturity, as exhibited by first heat or ovulation
11. Weanling – young animal, after separation from its dam
12. Weaning – the process of separating the young from its dam.

B. Cattle and Buffalo

1. Ox – member of the bovine family or, sometimes, the male used for draft
purpose.
2. Cattle – domesticated bovine animals
3. Bull – mature male cattle used for breeding.
4. Cow – mature female cattle for breeding
5. Heifer – young female cattle under three years of age, usually, one that has
not yet given birth.
6. Steer – male cattle that has been castrated before the secondary sex
characters develop.
7. Stag – male cattle castrated after sexual maturity
8. Calf – young cattle of either sex under one year of age
9. Bull calf – young male cattle under one year of age.
10. Cara – carabao ( as proposed by Dr. V. Villegas, UPLB) the use of the prefix
“cara” to terms for cattle to apply to carabaos.
11. Carabull - mature male carabao used for breeding.
12. Caracow – mature female carabao for breeding
13. caraheifer – young female carabao under three years of age, usually, one that
has not yet given birth.
14. Caracalf – young carabao of either sex under one year of age
15. Bullock –usually a stag used for draft purposes.
16. Proven sire – bull about whom there is sufficient unselected information to
indicate its transmitting ability.
17. Transmitting ability – the ability of an animal to pass on either good or bad
production traits to its progeny.

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 C. Horse
1. Stallion – mature male horse; if the stallion is used for breeding purposes, the
term Stud Horse is preferred.
2. Mare – mature female horse. Brood mare – female horse used for breeding
purpose.
3. Colt – young male horse usually up to 3 years old.
4. Filly – young female horse usually up to 3 years old
5. Foal – young horse of either sex below one year of age
6. Gelding – horse castrated while young
7. Geld mare – dry mare, which has not produce any young during the breeding
season.
8. Ridgling – stallion with only one testes or none in the scrotum.
9. Equitition – horsemanship; the art of riding on horseback.

D. Swine
1. Boar – male pig of any age.
2. Sow – mature female pig
3. Gilt – young female pig under one year of age, usually one that has not yet
delivered.
4. Shote – young pig of either sex weighing approximately 60 kgms
5. Barrow – male pig which is castrated while young or a castrated pig that is
unsexed before the secondary sex characters have developed.
6. Stag – a male pig castrated after sexual maturity
7. Suckling – young pigs separated from their dam, about 2 months old.
8. Weanling – young pigs separated from their dam, about 2 months old
9. litter – group of pigs in one farrowing
10. litter size – the number of young born in one litter

E. Sheep and Goats

1. Ram or buck – male sheep of any age for breeding purposes
2. Ewe – female sheep of any age
3. Lamb – young sheep of either sex below one year of age
4. Wether sheep – male sheep which is castrated while young, preferably
between one to three weeks of age
5. Shearling – yearling sheep with two teeth
6. Fleece – wool covering of the sheep
7. Buck – a mature male goat
8. Buck Kid - a male kid
9. Doe - a mature female goat that has kidded or given birth
10. Doeling - a mature female goat that has not yet kidded
11. Doe kid - a female kid
12. Pelt – wool and skin of a sheep
13. Kid – young goat of either sex below one year of age
14. Milking doe - a nursing or lactating female goat
15. Wether goat – castrated male goat which was unsexed before the secondary
sex characters have developed.

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 F. Meat and Meat Products
1. Meat of different animals:
a. Beef – Cattle, 1 year or over
b. Veal – Cattle, 1 year or less
c. Pork – pig
d. Venison – deer
e. Mutton – sheep, 1 year or over
f. Lamb – sheep, one year or less
g. Chevon – goat
h. Horse meat – horse
i. Carabeef – carabao , 1 year or over
j. Caraveal – carabao, 1 year or less
k. Game meat – game animals
l. Poultry meat – poultry
m. Lapan – rabbit
2. Meat – properly dressed flesh derived from animals sufficiently mature and in
good condition at time of slaughter.
3. Slaughtering – from fasting through stunning, bleeding up to skinning,
evisceration and halving.
4. Butchering – from splitting and quartering to cutting the carcass into retail cuts

G. Poultry terms
1. Backyard poultry raising – Small –scale poultry farming usually for home
consumption
2. Broiler – any young bird, grown usually for 6 weeks in order that it may weigh
1 kg after that period.
3. Candling – is the process of subjecting eggs to light ( usually a bulb) to check
its fertility
4. Capon – castrated male chicken
5. Brooding – process of subjecting young animal to heat and warmth in order to
increase their chances of survival.
6. Chick – young chicken regardless of sex
7. Cockerel – young cock
8. Contract growing – growing animals for someone else for a fee
9. Culling - is the process of eliminating undesirable animals
10. Domesticated birds – all birds that have been tamed or trained or adapted to
serve man’s needs
11. Dubbing – the removal of the comb and wattle
12. Duck – a name of various waterfowls akin to, but distinguish from swans and
geese by having broader bills and more waddling gait.
13. Duckling – is a young duck regardless of sex
14. Drake – a male duck
15. Fowl – a domesticated bird, now commonly referring to a cock or hen.
16. Fryer – Any bird that has developed to a size suitable for frying
17. Gander – a male goose
18. Goose – aquatic birds that are akin to ducks but distinguished from them by
having longer necks, larger bodies and wings and more aggressive behavior
19. Gosling – a young goose regardless of sex
20. Hen – a mature female fowl
21. Molting – is the natural means of renewing feathers in birds
22. Poult – young turkey regardless of sex
23. Pullet – a young female bird, hen or chicken

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 24. Roaster – an overgrown fryer
25. Rooster – a mature male chicken
26. Sexing – is the process of finding out the sex of the animals
27. Squab – young dove or pigeon
28. Tom – male turkey

H. Common terms in Animal Science

Weight per day of age ( WPDA) – measure of weight gains for the period specified. Usually
from birth to weaning, or from weaning to one year of age or to 1000 pounds or 90 kgs for
swine. As adjusted WPDA, has been corrected for various factors, e.g., age of dam, system
of feeding, sex, season of birth.

Ad libitum – unlimited or liberal feeding

Afterbirth - the placenta and other membrane expelled after delivery of the fetus or
young
Antibiotics – a substance produced by molds, which inhibits growth or kills bacteria
Anthelmintics – drugs administered as drench, bolus, mixed in feed to get rid of
internal parasites, such as worms and flukes
Balance - animal with proportionate distribution of length in front, middle, and
rear, and width from point of shoulders back to tailhead. A lack in female.
Brucellosis – Bang,s disease, also known as contagious abortion
Barren – sterile female
Blocky – Squarely – built beef animal, from the front, side and rear
Breed – Group of animals similar in color, type, and characteristics of the group. When
mated, members of the same breed produce offspring’s of same color, type and other breed
characteristics. They are said to “breed true to type”
Breedy or breediness – High degree of masculinity in bulls and feminity in cows.
Buller – Cow which is continuously in heat due to cystic ovaries
Bully – possessing masculine characteristics, heavy crest, aggressive, alert.
Bulling – when a cow tries to ride other cows, or when she stands when others try to ride
her. A “bulling” cow is in heat.
Burnt – Bulls, especially, with usefulness hindered by overfeeding and lack of exercise.
Castration - a surgical operation that removes the primary sex organs ( testes)
Cauterize - to burn with a hot iron
Colostrum - the first milk of the doe after kidding
Concentrates - grains or feeds that are low ( less than 18%) in crude fiber, but high in
digestible nutrient content
Conception - pregnancy
Closebreeding – mating of related animals. Terms include inbreeding and linebreeding
Condition – Degree of fatness
Constitution – Aggregate of physical powers and vigor
Crossbred – animal from parents of two different breeds
Cross breeding – System of breeding where male of one breed is mated to females of
another breed.
Cull – animals of low quality, hence prevented from breeding or the process of eliminating
undesirable animal to become parent of the next generation.
Dam – maternal parent
Dropped – born
Docile - easy to manage or handle; tamed

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Drench - to give liquid medicine by pouring down in the throat of the animal
Estrus - the period when the doe is receptive to mating. Heat period
Estrous cycle (heat cycle) - interval from one estrus to the next estrus
Emasculator - an instrument used in castration
Enteritis - inflammation of the intestine
Excreta - waste matter such as urine, feces, and sweat expelled by the body of the
animal
Feedlot – lot of large pen when steers or heifers are fattened for slaughter, connotes
commercial scale.

Fertility test – test of semen sperm count and measures of motility

Finish – degree of amount of fatness
Founder – Nutritional ailment caused by over- eating or inflammation of uterus fallowing
parturition. Affected animals become lame with sore front feet and excessive hoof growth.
Freemartin – Female born as twin with a bull; usually sterile
Fodder - feed materials for ruminant animals, either fresh or dried, but usually coarse
Forage - feed materials for ruminants, usually with lower nutritive value and
digestibility than concentrates
Forelegs - the front legs of quadrupeds or animals with four legs
Forequarters- the front region or part of the body of a quadruped, or four – legged animal
comprising the shoulder and the chest regions

Fluke - flat and leaf – like parasite worm. When it infest the liver, it is liverfluke
Freshen - to kid or give birth to a young
Frog - the soft part at the center of the hoof
General herd- herd composed of all the animals in the farm; bucks, castrated males, dry
does, and weanlings
Gestation - pregnancy; the period from fertilization to birth
Grades - the offspring of a native or indigenous breed
Gutty – oversized stomach or extra large middle
Heavy – in – calf - late stage of pregnancy
Heritability – proportion of the differences measured or observed between animals that are
transmitted to the offspring
Herd sire – principal bull said to “ head” a herd.
Hindquarters - the back or posterior region of the animals, including the parts supported by
the hind legs
Hooks - the joint in the hind legs of an animal which corresponds to the knee
Hoof - the entire part of the foot of the animal covered by the horny covering
Hybrid vigor – increased growth rate often noted in cattle and other animals resulting from
first- cross mating. It is believed desirable traits in parents are dominant over undesirable
traits
Inbreeding – method of mating close relatives.
Incision - cut or slit
In – kid - pregnant
Lactation period - the period during which the dam produces milk from the time of
delivery of her young
Loin – eye - main muscle of beef carcass in evaluation test called (rib eye) at 12 th rib is
used as indication of meatiness of carcass. In swine it is located at between 10th and 11th rib

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Milk let – down - the voluntary release of milk from the udders of lactating female; also
referred to as milk ejection

Maiden doe or virgin doe - a mature female goat ready for breeding
Meconium - first fecal matter of the newly born animal
Milking doe - a nursing or lactating female goat
Muzzle - the projecting part of the animal head including the mouth, jaws, and nose
Motility – activeness of bull’s semen as seen through microscope.
Nutrient - applied to any feed constituent, or group of feed constituents of the same
general chemical composition that aids in the support of life
Open – Not bred; in most auction sales an open heifer is one guarranted not to have been
served
Ovulation - shedding of the egg from the ovary
Paunchy – oversized stomach, pot bellied, gutty
Parturition - the general term for giving birth
Pasture - land with herbage or forage crops for grazing animals
Pedigree – written record of animal’s ancestry
Performance test – measure of animal’s performance usually for a single trait, i.e., weight
gains

Pendulous - hanging and freely swinging

Polled - naturally hornless
Postpartum - the period after birth
Postpartum breeding - mating after kidding or when the uterus and other parts of the
reproductive system have returned to normal
Progeny - offspring
Progeny test – measure of individual’s merit, through the offspring. Test may measure
inheritance of weight gains, conformations grades or scores, carcass meatiness, dwarfism.
Purebreed - animals bred from pureblood and are qualified for registration
Ration - feed allowed for a given animal for a day of 24 hours, whether it is fed at one
time or in proportion at different times
Rangy – Long – legged, long bodied, long necked
Registered – recorded in Herd Book of recognized breed association which issues
certificate that the animal is offspring of registered parents and meets registration
requirements
Selection differential – measured advantage of selected individuals over the average of all
animals from which they have been selected
Spay – surgical removal of ovaries
Scours - diarrhea
Scrotum - the external bag or pouch that holds the primary sex organs of males
Sole - bottom or undersurface of the foot
Teat - nipple of the udder; the protuberance of an udder through which the milk
passes out
Testes - primary sex organ of the male where sperms and male hormones are
produced
Tethering - restraining an animal with a rope or chain to allow limited movement
Tunica vaginales - thin membrane covering the testes
Udder - organ in the female animal that secretes milk
Viscera - soft interior organs in the body cavities that include the intestines, heart,
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 lungs, etc
Vulva - outer genital organ of the female animal; the opening into the vagina
Wattle - fleshy lobe or appendage hanging down from the throat or chin of goats

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