Farm glossary: feed, livestock and money terms explained
Find the meaning of a word on a feed label, animal card or farm account. The HerdMobile glossary explains 120 terms with farm examples, useful calculations and source links. Move from dry matter to daily feed quantities, from an animal event to its history, or from a sale to the money still to collect.
What do the feed terms mean?
Dry matter is the part of feed left after water is removed. It lets you compare wet silage with dry hay on a common basis. Crude protein, NDF, starch and minerals describe different parts of that feed. Each definition explains the name and unit, followed by an example of how the quantity enters a ration calculation. Related terms connect the feed analysis to the kilos offered each day. HerdMobile brings selected feeds, daily quantities and your prices together in the ration plan.
Which terms help with animal records?
An animal’s identity ties its birth, milk and care notes to the same history. Event date means the day something happened; record date means the day the note was entered. Lactation, dry period and body condition describe different parts of production and care. The glossary gives these everyday record terms a clear meaning, with examples from cattle, sheep and goats. In HerdMobile, dated animal cards put that history on your phone for the next milking, feeding or check.
How do the money terms fit together?
A sale records the agreed amount; a collection records money received. The receivable is the balance still to collect. Feed purchases, stock use and losses explain different parts of the farm’s spending. The glossary also covers unit price, cost per animal and gross margin, with arithmetic that shows what goes into each calculation. Source links open the reference behind the definition, and related pages take you to ration planning, herd records and farm finance. HerdMobile helps you follow those daily jobs with the figures already on your phone.
Terms
Nutrition
Minerals
Feeds
Animal and farm records
- Animal event
- Animal identifier
- Animal status
- Archived record
- Average daily gain
- Backup
- Birth date
- Birth record
- Body condition score
- Breed
- Calving
- Colostrum
- Dam
- Dry period
- Ear tag
- Event date
- Feed stock
- Follow-up date
- Health record
- Herd
- Herd count
- Kidding
- Lactation
- Lambing
- Live weight
- Milk fat
- Milk true protein
- Milk yield
- Record creation date
- Reminder
- Sex
- Sire
- Species
- Stock loss
- Stock movement
- Temporary ear tag
- Treatment record
- Vaccination record
- Weaning
- Weighing date
Farm finance
Units and measurements
Questions from the farm
How do I use the farm glossary?
Find the word used on your feed label, animal card or account. Its page gives a definition, a farm example and links to related terms.
How are the worked examples used?
Worked examples show the arithmetic with stated inputs, such as feed kilograms and a dry-matter percentage. They explain the calculation behind the term.
Where does each definition come from?
The source link opens the reference behind the definition. Feed-analysis terms link to feed parameters, while app-record terms link to the app’s documented record types.
How do I read an unknown field?
Unknown means the information is missing. A zero is an actual result; for example, a feed analysis can report zero or leave a nutrient unreported.
Why do units stay with the term?
The unit tells you whether a figure is a weight, volume, percentage or daily amount. For example, kg DM per day describes daily dry-matter quantity.
How do I use dry matter in comparisons?
Multiply as-fed weight by the dry-matter fraction. Example: 20 kg at 50% dry matter contains 10 kg DM, making wet and dry feed quantities easier to compare.
How do I read roughage and concentrate labels?
Roughage covers feeds such as hay and silage; concentrates include grain and compound feeds. The feed’s analysis gives the nutrients behind those broad categories.
How do NDF and ADF differ?
NDF includes mainly hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin. ADF includes mainly cellulose and lignin. They are two different analytical fibre fractions.
How do I distinguish feed and milk protein terms?
Crude protein estimates feed protein-equivalent content from nitrogen. Milk true protein describes milk protein with non-protein nitrogen excluded.
How do I compare energy values?
The energy-system name, such as ME or net energy for lactation, tells you which energy value is reported. The unit and dry-matter or as-fed basis complete its meaning.
What do I need for average daily gain?
Subtract starting weight from ending weight and divide by the days between weighings. Example: 24 kg gained in 30 days equals 0.80 kg per day.
How do I organise animal and farm identifiers?
Animal identity points to one animal’s card and events. Establishment identity points to the farm; the two names describe different levels of the records.
How do I follow a receivable?
A receivable is money still to collect from a sale. Each payment received reduces it, and HerdMobile helps you follow the amount remaining.
How does a backup fit into the record routine?
A backup saves a copy of your records in a file. Restoring replaces the current device records with that copy; a PIN-protected file uses the PIN set when it was created.
How do glossary terms connect to HerdMobile?
The same words appear in feed profiles, ration quantities and dated farm records. Related links take you from a definition to the daily job it describes.
How HerdMobile helps
Bring your animals, feed stocks and farm accounts together on your Android phone. HerdMobile keeps your daily work moving offline: record events, compare feed quantities and follow sales and payments in one place. Use your own feeds and herd information to prepare a ration, then keep a backup file under your control.
