Gro-pedia

Wool clogged with dung. Usually forms teardrop shaped pendants dangling under the tail and around the anus of sheep. If allowed to remain dags may become infested with maggots which in some cases may go on to infest the flesh of the living sheep.

The process of trimming away dags. An unpleasant job if the dung has had time to ferment.

The place where milk is processed or stored. On farms the building housing stainless steel tanks where milk is stored and cooled.

and implement pulled behind a tractor that chops up the surface of the soil with large metal discs, removing weeds and loosening the earth in preparation for planting

to prepare the soil for planting by cutting the soil with rotating metal disks

to tame and breed for human use

See ‘Cast.’

A machine towed by a tractor that plants seeds in rows a fixed distance apart. An alternative to broadcasting where seed is thrown into the air, either by hand or machine, and lands in a random pattern across the field. See Tull, Jethro.

any agricultural system that relies solely on rainfall and moisture stored in the soil, as opposed irrigation

Milk production is stimulated by the birth of a calf. It continues as long as the calf or the milking machine keeps removing the milk. It dries up completely if the calf does not drink or the cow is not milked.

Mud (Dialect S Scotland.)

A hard grained, high-protein variety of wheat that is preferred for pasta production. Durum is usually half-ground to produce the very coarse flour known as semolina.

This encompasses a wide range of modern crop and livestock management systems that seek to increase yields and incomes and maximize the sustainable use of local natural resources whilst minimizing the need for external inputs. Ecological farming ensures healthy farming and healthy food for today and tomorrow, by protecting soil, […]

the study of the environment and how living things interact with it

a community of living and non-living things that interact by exchanging matter and energy

physical surroundings; all that is around you

proteins that start a chemical reaction

to wear away topsoil by water or wind and can be caused by intensive farming and overgrazing

a form of natural gas that can be produced from corn

to get rid of waste, such as manure