Barrow: Castrated male.
Boar: Intact male.
Breed Description: As opposed to a “Breed Standard” which is exclusive and potentially destructive to a breed, a “Breed Description” is inclusive, allowing for natural variations.
Butcher Hog: A pig ready for slaughter.
COB: corn, oats and barley in a bagged mixtures, sometimes found with molasses.
Cull or Culling: To remove from the gene pool via slaughter.
Ear Notch: A notch cut out of the edge of the ear for identification purposes, generally used on piglets. (Note, this is relatively painless, rather like piercing the fleshy part of a human ear, and stays in for life)
Estrus: Also known as “heat”, the time when the female is cycling and will accept a male in order to conceive.
Farrow: To give birth.
Feeder Pig: One sold to farmers to raise up to slaughter weight.
Finishing: Commercial term for feeding out a hog to slaughter weight.
Gestation: Pregnancy, or length of pregnancy.
Gilt: A young female pig that has not yet given birth.
Herd: A group of pigs.
Hog: A domestic swine.
Hurdle: 4 x 4 foot sheet of plywood with a handle at the top, used for sorting and moving hogs.
Litter: A group of offspring born from a single gestation.
Piggy: Adjective used to describe a female in late gestation.
Piglet: A young pig.
Shoat: A pig that has been recently weaned.
Sow: A female that has had a litter of pigs.