| La Niña |
The opposite of EI Niño, when
the waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific are abnormally cold. La
Niña episodes (positive phases of the
Southern Oscillation) are characterised by more frequent and
heavier rain periods, occasionally with severe flooding in Australia
but drier periods in the western Americas. |
| Labile |
Readily undergoing change or breakdown. |
| Labour Share
Lease |
A leasing
agreement in which the operator receives a share of the production in
exchange for contributing only labour. |
| Lactation
Period |
The time an
animal is in milk, usually 10 months for cows. The official testing
period for dairy cattle is 300 days. |
| Lagomorph |
Any of various
plant-eating mammals having fully furred feet and two pairs of upper
incisors and belonging to the order Lagomorpha, which includes the
rabbits and hares. |
| Lamb |
A young sheep
still with its mother, or up to about five months of age. Term is used
widely, e.g., milk lamb, weaned lamb, shorn lamb, ram lamb, ewe lamb, wether lamb. See Meat Terminology |
| Lamb Cradle |
A dish-shaped
holder in which lambs are placed for marking. |
| Lamb Marking |
The process of
removing the tails and castrating
lambs, and often associated with ear marking or tagging for
identification. Usually performed at about six weeks of age. |
| Lambing
Percentage |
Number of lambs
in the flock at weaning plus lambs sold before weaning multiplied by
100 divided by number of ewes mated. |
| Lambplan |
An Australian
national strategy to produce rams of above average rate and leanness to
meet a specific market. |
| Lambs
wool |
Wool
shorn from lambs. |
| Land |
The total
natural and cultural environment within which production takes place; a
broader term than soil. In addition to soil, its attributes include
other physical conditions, such as mineral deposits, climate and water
supply, location in relation to centres of commerce, populations and
other land; the size of the individual tracts or holdings; and existing
plant cover, works of improvement, and the like. Some use the term
loosely in other senses; as defined above but without the economic or
cultural criteria. |
| Land (As A
Resource) |
1. The natural
resource of land plus original plant and animal population.
2. The land as it is, excluding all fixed improvements.
3. Any part of the earth surface which can be owned as property and
everything annexed to it, whether by the hand of man or by nature. |
| Land
Capability |
Is an expression
of the effect of physical land conditions, including climatic, on the
total suitability for use without damage for crops that require regular
tillage, for grazing, for woodland, and for wildlife. Land capability
involves consideration of the risks of land damage from erosion and
other causes and the difficulties in land use owing to physical land
characteristics, including climate. |
| Land Capability
Classes |
A system of
classifying land according to its productivity for agricultural use. It
gives a landholder a guide to the productive capability of the land and
its vulnerability to erosion. |
| Land Classes |
One of several
classes of land distinguished according to potentiality for
agricultural use. cf. land
capability classification. |
| Land Degradation |
A collective
term that describes the loss of productivity which results from soil
erosion, increases in soil salinity, loss of soil structure and so on. |
| Land Equivalent Ratio |
The ratio of the area needed under sole cropping to the
area under inter- or mixed-cropping to give equal amounts of yield at
the same management level. |
| Land Ethic |
A set of values
which acknowledges human dependence on the soil as a basic resource to
be respected. |
| Land Slip |
Downslope
movement of a relatively dry or coherent mass of earth and/or rock at a
rate fast enough to be readily perceived. |
| Land Tenure |
In rural
sociology and agricultural economics the nature of property rights
under which land is held and utilised. May be freehold or
leased. |
| Land Tenure
Legislation |
Legislation that
confers title or ownership to the land. See Torrens System |
| Land Units |
A
geomorphological sub category of the land system in which there is an
element of homogeneity. |
| Land Use Planning |
The process by
which decisions are made on future land uses over extended time periods
that are deemed to best serve the general welfare. |
| Landcare |
Landcare is a
community-based movement working to care for the land. It began as a
movement in the 1980's and has developed to involve more than 3000
landcare groups around Australia. Supported by the Federal Government,
to help improve the environment, in both rural and urban areas. The
groups usually work together in a particular locality to tackle land
and water management issues. |
| Landcare
Ethic |
Ethical or
philosophical outlook centred upon the care of the land as an
imperative. |
| Landcare Groups |
Voluntary rural
community groups affiliated with Federal Government, Soil Conservation
and Afforestation programmes c.f. Land
Care Ethic. |
| Lanolin |
A fatty
substance obtained from wool and used in soaps, cosmetics, and
ointments. Also called wool fat. |
| Lateritic
Podzolic Soils |
Laterites are
soils rich in oxides of iron and aluminium formed by deep weathering in
warm temperate and tropical regions. |
| Latex |
A
milky fluid found in certain plants such as dandelion, rubber trees. |
| Law of
Diminishing Returns |
States that if
successive units of one input is added to given quantities of other
inputs, a point is eventually reached where the amount of additional
produce obtained from the additional unit of input will decline. |
| Law of the Optimum |
See Liebscher's
Law |
| Layering |
A vegetative way
of producing plants by putting out roots before the new plant is cut
from the parent plant. |
| LD50 |
Measure of
toxicity of a chemical. The relative degree of toxicity of pesticides
to warm-blooded animals defined as the single dosage that kills 50
percent of test animals, expressed as mg/kg of body weight. Also called
median lethal dose. The higher the LD50, the safer the chemical. |
| Leaching |
The downward
movement of nutrients or salts through the soil profile in soil water.
Leaching accounts for nutrient losses but can also have the benefit of
ridding a soil of excess salts. |
| Leading
dog |
Dog
used to go in front of a mob to control its speed and stop it breaking
or stampeding. |
| Leaf Area
Index (LAI) |
Sum total of
leaf area expressed as a percentage of ground surface. Leaf area index
may exceed 100%. |
| Leaf Sheaths |
Parts of the
leaf that wrap and mass together to give a stem-like appearance in
grasses. |
| Leakage |
Conductance
from an electric fence line to ground, caused by poor insulators,
shorts, and growth on the wires. |
| Lease,
Leashold |
An agreement
that allows a person to use and/or possess someone else's property in
exchange for a rental payment. |
| Ledger |
Main book used
for recording accounts kept by a business (General Ledger).
Further books may be kept to expand on sections of the general ledger
eg. Creditors Ledger
and Debtors Ledger.
The terms also refer to computerised accounts. |
| Leggy |
A term applied
to a sheep or other animal that appears to have longer legs than the
standard for the breed. |
| Legume |
A plant of the
family Fabaceae able to fix (capture) atmospheric nitrogen in nodules
on its roots if the roots are infected by the appropriate Rhizobium
bacteria. See also Nitrogen
fixation |
| Leibigs'
Law of the Minimum |
Was expounded by
a German chemist who suggested that the growth of a plant is dependent
on the amount of foodstuff which is presented to it in minimum
quantities. Yields of crops are often limited not so much by nutrients
needed in large quantities but by elements which need to be present in
the soil in only trace amounts. c.f. trace elements. |
| Lemma |
The lower of the
two bracts that enclose
the flower in grasses. |
| Lenticels |
Small
corky areas on the surface of stems and roots which allow the
interchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between internal tissues and
the atmosphere. |
| Lessee |
A person who
leases property from the owner; a tenant. |
| Lessor |
A person who
leases owned property to a lessee; a landlord. |
| Let
down |
When a cow
receives the appropriate stimulus a hormone is released that in turn
causes her to release milk from her udder. This is called milk let-down. |
| Lethal
gene |
A
gene which when expressed can cause the death of the animal. |
| Leucoplast |
Centre
of starch formation in a plant cell. |
| Leverage |
The practice of
using credit to increase the total capital
managed beyond the amount of owner equity. See Gearing. |
| Levy |
An amount
(voluntary or compulsory) deducted from an item of revenue by
government or an outside body. |
| Ley |
The pasture
phase of a rotation of cereals and pasture. In South Australia usually
refers to an annual legume pasture. |
| Ley farming |
A generic term that in Australia is commonly applied to
the short and long forms of the crop–pasture rotation. There
is a recent trend towards the use of ‘ley’ to
denote a 1-year self-regenerating pasture between crops and
‘phase’ to denote several consecutive years of
re-sown pasture after a sequence of crops. |
| Ley Farming
System |
Crop systems
which integrate livestock and include several years of pasture in the
rotation. |
| Liabilities |
May be internal
or external. For internal see Equity.
External liabilities (debts) may be divided into Current Liabilities
(due to be settled within the current accounting period) and Deferred Liabilities
(all non-current liabilities) which may be further divided into Medium
(2 to 8 years) and Long-term
(greater than 8 years). |
| Liability |
An obligation to
transfer cash or other assets, or to provide services to another entity. |
| Liana |
A
large woody, climbing plant. |
| Lichen |
An
organism comprising an algae and a fungi. |
| Liebscher's
Law (of the Optimum) |
Predicts an increase in the use efficiency of nutrients
by a plant, as
other nutrients are brought closer to the optimum. Liebscher's Law was
originally described as of a modification of Liebig's Law of the Minimum. |
| Lien |
Granted by the
owner of property where he executes a deed in favour of a lender; in
such a deed the proceeds from the property are available for the
satisfaction of the debt, but the property itself remains in the
possession of the owner. |
| Lick |
A lick is a block of material
containing
minerals or dietary supplement that is placed in the paddock for the
animals to lick. It
may be in the form o a drum with a rotating ball that the animals lick. |
| Life-Form |
Characteristic
form or appearance of a species at maturity, e.g. tree, shrub, herb etc. |
| Lift |
Action
of a dog to move sheep from a standing position |
| Lignins |
Complex aromatic
compounds the chemistry of which is not fully understood, which are
deposited in cell walls making them rigid. |
| Lignocellulosic |
Describing any of several closely related substances
constituting the essential part of woody cell walls of plants and
consisting of cellulose intimately associated with lignin. |
| Lime |
Ground limestone
that is used to raise soil pH.
Limestone consists of calcium carbonate, with varying amounts of
magnesium present. |
| Liming |
Chemical
modification of the hide or pelt with alkali to make softer and more
pliable leather |
Limited(Company)
Limited liability |
In
limited companies the liability of the shareholder is limited to the
extent of the value of their shares or guarantee. 'Ltd' or
'Limited' is part of the company name |
| Limiting
Factor |
Any
environmental factor which exists at suboptimal level and thereby
prevents an organism from reaching its full biotic potential. cf. Leibigs' Law of the Minimum,
Threshold. |
| Line Breeding |
Breeding from
the same bloodline or within the same family, but not from close
relations. |
| Line Of
Credit |
An arrangement
by which a lender transfers loan funds to a borrower as they are
needed, up to a maximum amount. |
| Line
of wool |
Several
bales of wool of a similar type. |
| Linear
Programming |
Is a technique
based on the processes of matrix algebra which can produce optimal
mathematical solutions in terms of maximising (eg. Maximum total farm gross margin) or
minimising (eg. Least-cost feed ration) some stated objective. |
| Liner
(inflation) |
A
flexible sleeve having a mouthpiece, a barrel, and an integral or
separate short milk tune.
Fits inside teat cup of a milking machine. |
| Linkage |
An
association between genes so that they appear to be inherited together. |
| Liquid
Asset |
An asset
that can be quickly
converted into cash at little cost. |
| Liquidate |
To convert an
asset into cash. |
| Liquidity |
The ability of a
business to generate cash needed to meet obligations when they fall due
(a short run concept - see solvency) |
| Liquidity Ratios |
Current
Ratio - Ratio
of current assets to current liabilities. Quick
Ratio - Ratio of
readily cashed current assets to current liabilities. |
| Litter |
1. The uppermost
layer of organic debris on the soil surface; essentially the freshly
fallen or slightly decomposed vegetable material.
2. The multiple offspring produced at one birth by a mammal such as a
pig or a dog. |
| Livelihood systems |
A concept that accounts for the effects of off-farm
income on the operation, management and income stability of a farm
system. |
| Livestock |
Domesticated
animals used to produce revenue such as sheep, cattle, goats and
horses.. |
| Livestock Feed
Budget |
A budget
comparing feed requirements of livestock with the feed available. |
| Livestock Month |
A measurement to
rank monthly energy needs of stock. A livestock month is the energy (in
feed) required by an adult dry sheep in 30 days. |
| Livestock Trading Schedule |
A table used to
calculate the actual or budgeted annual contribution to gross income
from trading of animals by sales and purchases, and births and deaths,
and changes in numbers and value of livestock on hand, from opening
number and value to closing number and value. Captures the
effects of animal depreciation or appreciation, as well as natural
increase. |
| Livestock Unit
(LSU) |
Various measures may be
calculated based on the feed requirement of grazing animals and can be
used to assess the capacity of land to carry livestock. Southern
Australia most commonly uses Dry
Sheep Equivalent. Alternatiely an animal (e.g. steer) with a
weight of 450 kg. may be the unit. |
| Liveweight |
Abbreviated as
LW. Total weight of an animal including fleece, gut fill and contents
of the uterus. |
| Locks |
Short
wool which has either fallen through the wool table or been swept from
the shearing board (also spelt lox). |
| Locky |
1. A term
applied to wool that is open, with thin-bodied staples
2. A term applied to skirtings which contain an excess of locks. |
| Loam |
The name of a
soil texture class with moderate amounts of sand, silt and clay |
| Loan |
A business
transaction between two entities whereby one party (the lender) "rents"
funds to the other party (the borrower) under agreed conditions. |
| Loan Instalment |
A package of
interest and principal reduction, paid to the lender by the borrower. |
| Loess |
A fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and
silt deposited by wind. |
| Long (Futures) |
Buying
a futures contract is called a long, or going long. c.f.Short |
| Long
Jaw |
A
term indicating the lower jaw of the animal (sheep) protrudes beyond
the upper jaw. |
| Long milk tube |
The
connecting tube between the claw and the milk pipeline (i.e., this
includes the metal dropper) in a milking machine. |
| Long
Pulse Tube |
The
connecting tube between the claw and the pulsator (dropper) in a milking
machine.. |
| Long
- Term Liabilities |
Liabilities that
are scheduled to be repaid over a period of ten years or longer. |
| Longevity |
Length of life.
In dairy production, it is a satisfactory level of milk and fat
production over a long lifetime. |
| Longtail |
Sheep (mostly wethers) with tails intact to
appeal to the Middle East live sheep market. |
| Long
wool sheep |
Sheep
of British ancestry growing a coarse fleece of more than 100 mm staple
length in 12 months, e.g., Romney, Coopworth, Leicester, and Lincoln. |
| Loss |
(a) The opposite
of profit. (b) The
disappearance of an asset, eg through theft, fire, death or straying. |
| Lot |
Line
of wool offered for sale. Also called Sale lot |
| Lot
building |
Method
of preparing wool for sale where lots of less than 10 bales from
different growers are matched according to type to give lots greater than 10 bales to be
offered for sale by sample. |
| Lotting |
The visual
matching of small lots within a clip to produce larger lines. |
| Lousy |
An animal
infested with lice. |
| Low-Input
Farming Systems |
Have a low
reliance on purchased inputs such as fertilisers, fossil fuels etc. |
| Low
volatile |
A
chemical which does not vaporise very easily, e.g. diesel oil, paraffin
oil. |
| Low
volume application |
Application of a
pesticide in such a way that foliage, etc., is covered by discrete
droplets which do not run together. The term "concentrate spraying" is
often used for this form of application. |
| Lucerne |
A southwest
Asian perennial herb (Medicago sativa) having compound leaves with
three leaflets and clusters of usually blue-violet flowers. It is
widely cultivated as a pasture and hay crop. Syn. Alfalfa |
| Lumpy
Input |
A resource that
can be obtained only in certain indivisible sizes, such as a tractor or
a full - time employee. |
| Lunge |
To
exercise a horse on the end of a rope in a circle. |
| Lustre |
Sheen
characteristics of some coarser types of wool, e.g., Lincoln and
Leicester. |
