Scottish Descriptive Terms
from Robert Stevenson
Abullin - when a cow is in season. A surge in hormones will cause disruption in the herd and they will mount each other in confusion. A good stockman will be looking out for these signs to keep his herd in production.
Baikie - a sheep trough
Binnin - the chain that tied the cow up. (Some would be remarkably good at slipping out of them!)
Bis - the stall in a byre where the cow stands
Bowing - the rental of cows and premises by a bower - who would be self employed (as opposed to an employed dairy worker) pronounced boo’in.
Braird - of a seedling. To grow into a leaf. It can also refer to the appearance of a crop across a whole field, for example "that's a guid braird"
Brockie colourit - of a cow,with mottled markings, mirlie,verging on roan.
Bucht - pen for handling sheep or the enclosure out on a hill for holding sheep.
Bubblyjock - an adult male turkey cock. (Mum's family had a saying "..there's aye a bubblyjock" meaning that there is always a snag or a let down which came from a wee boy in the family who loved to visit a certain farm, but then got attacked by the bubblyjock there)
Byre Besom - a big course brush for sweeping down the cow stalls and grip.
Chaser a male sheep. One that cannot be castrated due to an undescended testicle (such an animal is called a rig). This causes problems as the animal can remain fertile, so cannot be run with fattening ewe lambs, also the animal is hard to fatten of itself being male, thus they are heavily devalued. Scots dictionary suggests so named as they chase after ewes!
Cheugh - adjective describing a cow that is slow to milk, possibly due to having a narrow “strone” ie thin stream of milk when drawn.
Chipping to calve - showing signs of making an udder after being flat dry.
Clitt - of a cloven hoof. Also Clitt-ill, when they are lame with a sore foot between the cleats. Clootie is a scottish name for the devil.
Clocker - a broody hen. They change their call to "clock, clock, clock...."
Cocky lugs of a cow, large ears carried alertly.
Coils - small heaps of grass turning into hay. Dad said his father looked for a “wat pouk”, a wet lump of grass, to put on the top.
Cooler - a big deep tank-like barrow on wheels where the hot mash was cooled before being fed to the dairy cows. Wet feeding was important before cows all had water bowls. They might have been let our only once a day to drink from the farm pond. (Beet pulp etc)
Das - a bay in a hay shed
Drappit o' her tailheid of a cow, having a sloping rump. Long level quarters give more room to carry a capacious udder, however high pin setting is a fault,as it leads to locomotion problems, and often calving difficulties .
Five O'Clock knappit - of a cow, with her hocks turning in ( the way a Clydesdale's are supposed to! ). Not good for locomotion, or carrying a capacious udder.
Gang - the walkway down the middle of the byre between the grips.
Grip - the dung channel behind the cow.
Guid ablo - of a cow. Tidy placement of her teats, whether or not she has yet made an udder.
Hanny - a round metal scoop with a single stout wooden handle sticking out at right angles to the edge of the bowl. It held about four pounds of cattle cake or meal, so a hannyfu' would equal enough feed to meet the productions of one gallon of milk.
Heft - to leave milk on a cow to fill up the vessel, for a show or a photograph. May also refer to a stock of sheep bound by instinct to their own stretch of hill grazing (interesting to note that when sheep farms were let, the hefted sheep were valued, and sold to the next tenant)
Hing her cleaning - when a cow retains (hangs on to) the afterbirth post calving, causing problems. It may need the vet to detatch it.
Jenny or Jenny Willox - a heifer calf born as a twin to a bull calf and as a consequence of sharing placental blood circulation with her brother is infertile - being incompletely formed inside.
Kebbing - abortion in ewes.
Luggie - the single handled lopsided pail used to tuck under the cow during milking.
Mail - one milking, as opposed to a 24 yield of a cow, for example, " giving five gallon at one mail!"
Moosie skint - of a cow, with a thin, fine, loose skin. An indication of dairy quality.
On the pouk - a hen thus is moulting. (on the moult)
Pick - to abort. A pickit cawf is a calf that has been aborted early usually due to injury or disease or defects.
Park - scottish word for field.
Quey - young female cow - up to her second calving. (Heifer)
Redd land - land cleared of crop eg turnips, not stubble ground or ley.
Ricks - much bigger gatherings of coils of hay where the grass cured before being led into the hay shed. Balers put a stop to coils and ricks.
Scance - when walking across a grass seed braid (which takes much longer to grow than a cereal crop) it can be hard to see the wee, fine seedlings at your feet. However, when viewed side on, or when looking at the crest of some higher ground in the field, a scance of green can be detected as you are seeing many seedlings side on.
Slippit - a cow that will calve in about 24 hours will have a tailhead that rises slightly and the ligaments on either side that are normally taught will slacken and appear to disappear. When the cow walks the ligaments will appear to flex. This is in preparation to allow the calf more passage.
Sookit gimmer - a young ewe that has lambed once only
Soo mooth - of a sheep , literally with a mouth like a sow ( short of bottom jaw). The opposite of shan-gabbit ( protruding lower jaw). As sheep, like cows only have incisor teeth on their bottom jaw , this means the animal cannot graze properly, as its teeth don't impact on the upper pad.
Sowing sheet - a canvas tray worn on straps by a worker who strode the field of worked ground throwing a handful of seed rhythmically to each side.
Stifle - the joint in a cow's back leg, between her hock and her hip joint. Can be damaged if a cow falls, or does splits.
Stirkie - the next stage of development after calf (probably equivalent to a teenager!)
Swalme - the odoema that gathers in a cow's udder around calving time, and is especially noticeable in a quey (first calver).
Tinged - blown up with gas as when cows have been on foggage (the lush aftermath from a hay crop).
Tor bones - the prominent hook bones on a cow either side of her spine above the hip.
Trevis - the divider making the stall. Could be stone or reinforced concrete.
Udder clap - and infection caused by headfly of sheep attacking the teat, found usually on a dry cow or in-calf heifer. It causes a severe foul smelling infection. It can also be referred to as August bag, the flies being prevalent in august.
Walin lambs - the action of selecting those lambs ready for market.
Weed - an infection of the udder. Also Mastitis.
Wee titted rats derogatory description of the vessel bred strain of Ayrshires. Their teats could be so small that they were mainly milked by women, having to use their finger tips. However with the introduction of the milking machine , the tidy udders and even, neatly placed teats of the Ayrshire were at an advantage over coarser vesseled breeds eg Friesian and Shorthorn types.
Yeld stock the other type of Ayrshire. These didn't have tight enough udders or fancy teat placements to allow them to win at shows. Thus breeders in this camp , only showed bulls , and young stock that had yet to calve - hence Yeld Stock. They looked for bigger , stylish animals with good legs and feet , and level toplines. Show winnings were not such a priority , and these breeders were keen to promote milk recording in its early days, as a means of proving the commercial worth of their herds.
Yett - gate
Yowe neckit of a cow, with a pronounced dip in the nape of its neck , instead of the neck blending into the spine , with smooth shoulder blades. You need to see a freshly clipped ewe (yowe) to see what their necks are like!
