The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: SallyintNorth on August 07, 2012, 10:41:36 am
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Picking up on a post in Pigs, urging us all to refer to our growers as boars and gilts and not as boys and girls...
I didn't want to hijack the thread there, but I did want to pick up on that point.
We're all entitled to our personal preferences, and to express them, of course. But not, I think, to insist on others following them.
Telling me I mustn't refer to my breeding ewes as "the girls" would be like telling me I mustn't name my breeding sow.
Anthropomorphising is perhaps unhealthy, but referring to our livestock in ways which, to us, confers recognition of their personality, contribution, needs, drivers, whatever, is not, in my view, wrong. A ewe referred to as 'mum' invokes recognition of her maternal instincts, and may result in handling which is more sensitive to her needs than if she were referred to as 'the ewe'. Or not. But I can't see that it does any harm.
I can't give you a reference, so this could be agricultural myth, but I have heard of research which showed that cows given names were more productive than those referred to only by their management numbers. We're beef farmers, and we do not find this at all hard to believe - not because cows like to have their own names (although they do know their own name if you give them one and use it), but because of the subtle difference in the way you treat an animal you refer to and think of by name.
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well said. :thumbsup:
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I agree :thumbsup:
It's good to know the difference between gilts and sows, heifers and cows etc from a husbandry & knowledge point of view obviously, but what you call them is up to you ;)
My Large Blacks would be most offended at 'girls' though - they prefer 'ladies' ;D
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My animals get called all sorts of names :innocent:
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I agree too :thumbsup:
Sally i also have heard the thing about milking cows with names giving more milk and being easier to handle.
My pigs are babies, girlies & boys, one gilt actually answers to girly! And yes composto mune get some other choice names occaisionally too :innocent:
Mandy :pig:
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i was starting to :rant: but it got lost in the speed typing i agree with everybody as long as the bones of the query or information is able to be translated there is no problem but then a castrated male would need to be referred to as a barrow wither you use that barrow to take it to the compost heap :roflanim: is up to the reader
yes cows do respond to that personal touch as do any animal just look or observe dogs in the family situation a dog will come to you when you are needing comfort equally it will get f*** if you are angry not necessarily it it
chooks chickens etc are hens and cocks but why berate a poster for incorrect terminology just as some are apostrophe police and cringe at spelling mistakes
the whole point of this site is to pass on information and possible pitfalls so others will not make the same mistakes or point them in a better direction without having to shell out a fortune for that information
in all honesty when i first came on here i was :roflanim: at some of the posts and that was just the replies never mind the initial questions :farmer:
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I don't think it matters one bit what people call things. It's up to them and i don't think anyone should say they can't. I can understand if it gets confusing but that isn't the case when you say girls and boys as you ain't going to get confused.
No idea why chooks is offensive either as that is what i call them at feeding time.
Helen
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:thumbsup: Yes Sally.
My farming neighbour, who I consider a really good farmer and is well respected by everyone around here, refers to his ewes as "girls" and calls them by shouting this. Sure he knows all the correct terminology! Me too, but I refer to them as lads, girls, ladies or whatever. I don't give individual names to males that won't stay here but this is mainly to help my children to understand/accept that these will have to go. This approach was explained to me by a smallholder up here .... used with her boys many years ago and for us it seems to work. These animals are thought none the less of.
As for posts ..... well ..... much better to ask than not ask. Some people have not had the benefit of growing up around animals and yes may know nothing. If they are asking then good for them. :thumbsup: How can anyone learn if they don't ask?
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I didn't see the original post in 'pigs' so I don't know what set this off.
I tend to use a mixture of the 'proper' names plus a few more general terms, having had my aunt nagging me forever not to call my sheep 'girls' and 'boys' ::) . It can be clearer to be specific if you want to refer to a ewe hogg, say, as opposed to a 'four shear ewe', where the difference is relevant to the conversation, but surely there is nothing wrong whatsoever with calling your animals sheepies, lambies, lambkins, girlies, wee b@$t@3?s, chooks, henny pennies and henloos (which is what I call mine :-[ ), nan, old goat, porky, piggywig, quackers, mookies, whatever :sunshine: . Speech is free, use it as you will :thumbsup:
The only reason to know and use the 'proper' terminology is to maintain your cred at the mart ;D
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mandy a female milker will get more milk out a cow than a male will iether hand milking or machine milking :farmer:
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I shout come on girls when I'm feeding the sows, they don't seem to mind, could shout anything to them really they wouldn't give two hoots, it would be the neighbours who would be offended ;D .
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All my Rough Fells had individual names, since they could be told apart by their face markings.
It was either call them 'Three Spot' or 'Freckles' or say 'that three shear we got from Mr Harrison' - so in the end it was shorthand :D
Now since I don't speak about my Shetlands to anyone else who knows them, I recognise them but don't name them.
My Dad has a thing about calling animals 'girls' or 'boys' and corrects any visiting children ::). So boring, life is far too short!
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husband, big farmer, calls all his females, cows and sheep "susie" then he never forgets thier names much to the kids amusement!
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I have a friend who does something similar with his mistresses!
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My goats all respond when I call "Girls," including the male. Maybe because there is usually food around. I refer to them as my girls. My dogs are two boys and a girl.
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Does my hubby apply, when he refers to that "old patchy assed ewe with the big belly" i don't think he's talking about me?? :innocent:
Most of the names he calls our sheep are just not repeatable!
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I am a big one for your animals you call them what you like!
Our pigs were 'the boys' and all the other animals get called 'the girls' if you have to use correct terminology on a daily basis it is a drag, isn't this all supposed to be fun? :thumbsup:
Hard core serious people can call their animals the appropiate names, great too.
Reminds me of the debate what do you tell your children their private parts are called? Hot debate topic amongst mums around here at the moment.... snooooooze who cares!
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We give all our animals names! some have more than one.....Sasha our GS other names
are momo, moto, sashmo...she reponds to all of them fine.
Its just fun....If people object ask them what they call their bank manager - I bet they've got
another unaficial name for him ;D
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So am I just perambulating this mono-wheeled receptacle laden with animal body waste towards the biomass chemical breakdown holding area ?
Or pushing a barrow load of s**t to the muck heap ?
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So am I just perambulating this mono-wheeled receptacle laden with animal body waste towards the biomass chemical breakdown holding area ?
Or pushing a barrow load of s**t to the muck heap ?
:D :D
whichever you like ... then would you come and help me with ours?!
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It's not what you call them - it is the way you say it that counts.
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mandy a female milker will get more milk out a cow than a male will iether hand milking or machine milking :farmer:
i understand radio 2 helps too ;D
mandy :pig:
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mandy a female milker will get more milk out a cow than a male will iether hand milking or machine milking :farmer:
i understand radio 2 helps too ;D
mandy :pig:
Oh! I thought they liked radio 4? (Especially The Archers, of course :-J)
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??? Have we changed topics?
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??? Have we changed topics?
:P
Well, maybe a bit. :innocent:
Selecting a radio station to play them is only a little way removed from having a name for them... :eyelashes:
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??? Have we changed topics?
:P
Well, maybe a bit. :innocent:
Selecting a radio station to play them is only a little way removed from having a name for them... :eyelashes:
Well ... I bet they love the moosic anyway ;)
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I would love to have seen anyone demanding Harry Sleigh (Wells Shetland Ponies back in the day) referred to filly foals and colt foals instead of calling them all colts. Or maybe the Scots should either demand we all use "gimmer" perhaps? And when I refer to Trouble and her little brother I know I am talking about twin lambs, one ewe and one ram, just as I know the Hope Shearling is no longer a shearling but has been called that for so long that nothing else works. Correct terminology has its place - auction catalogues perhaps come to mind - but I know who I am talking about and so does anyone else who needs to know.
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The nocternal raptor and the Norwegian forrest feline went to sea in a nicely painted, estate green, hard chine ,sailing dingy .
Nah, doesn't have quite the same ring to it somehow. :-J
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The nocternal raptor and the Norwegian forrest feline went to sea in a nicely painted, estate green, hard chine ,sailing dingy .
Nah, doesn't have quite the same ring to it somehow. :-J
Doesn't rhyme either.
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All my animals have names except the hens. Better to have a name than just be a number where you have no individuality or personality, what difference does it make what other people think Sally, they are your animals and you can call them what you like, just like the majority of us.
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Absolutely.