Test Your Word Knowledge With a Quiz About Farm Terms

September 20th, 2010 at 07:59am Under Agriculture

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Today we have a test for you — a vocabulary quiz. The words are all related to agriculture. We start with two questions about terms for plants.

Ready? First question: What do we call a plant that lives only one year or one growing season? That kind of plant is called an annual.

You can probably guess the next question. What do we call a plant that produces new growth year after year? Plants that keep growing back are called perennials.

Now we are going to ask some questions about terms for livestock.

What is another name for a male cow? A bull, right? Well, a “bull” can just mean a male cow that has not had its reproductive organs removed. If the animal was castrated as a calf, the name for it is — what? The answer: a steer.

Next question: What is another name for a young cow? That should be easy. We just said it. A young cow is a calf.

But we have a special name for a young female cow, especially if it has not had a calf yet. What is that name? The answer: a heifer. Maybe you knew that. But can you spell it? This question is just for our radio listeners. Heifer is spelled H-E-I-F-E-R.

Cows, like all mammals, produce milk. There is a medical name for this process. What is it? The answer: lactate. Cows lactate for up to ten months.

In milk, the fat rises to the top. But some people do not like to drink milk that way. So there is a process that is used to reduce the size of the fat particles and mix them all through the milk. What is the name of that process? It’s called homogenization.

Milk can be made into cheese. Some people like cheese made with milk from a sheep. Our next question: What do you call a female sheep? The answer: a ewe, spelled E-W-E.

Male sheep have their own name. What is it? Males are called rams.

A lamb is a sheep under a year old. But what do you call the meat from a sheep that is over a year old? Then we call it mutton.

Age also plays a part in terms for horses. For example, a “mare” is generally defined as a female three years or older. But what do you call a female horse that is under three? The answer: a filly.

And the last question: What is the name for a male horse that is under four years old. A young male is a colt.

So how many did you get right? If you want to take this quiz again, you can find it at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. I’m Barbara Klein.

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Oil Spill Puts Fisheries, Birds at Risk Along US Gulf Coast

June 11th, 2010 at 10:54am Under Agriculture

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

American officials have suspended all fishing in parts of the Gulf of Mexico for at least ten days because of the huge oil spill. The restrictions will give scientists time to study the effects on seafood in the gulf.

Sunday’s order extended from the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana east to waters of Pensacola Bay in Florida. The affected waters include areas off the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama.

On April twentieth an oil drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded and sank about eighty kilometers from the Louisiana coast. BP is trying different ways to stop the leak from a damaged undersea well and control the spilled oil.

The chief of British Petroleum blames failures by the rig’s operator, Transocean of Switzerland. But BP says it will pay cleanup costs and all “legitimate claims” for losses and damages from the spill. BP is also hiring local fishing boats to help with the cleanup.

Eighty percent of the seafood eaten by Americans is imported. But the fishing industry in Louisiana is responsible for about a third of all seafood caught in the United States.

The fishing ban announced Sunday did not affect state waters west of the Mississippi River. Those waters represent seventy-seven percent of Louisiana’s total seafood production. Ewell Smith from the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board says seafood from the unaffected area is safe to eat.

Seafood is worth nearly two and a half billion dollars to the state. The spill comes shortly before the start of the fishing season for crab, shrimp and oysters. Louisiana is the nation’s leading producer of shrimp, oysters, crabs, crawfish and alligators.

Louisiana is also one of the world’s largest producers of what some call “the most important fish you’ve never heard of”: menhaden. Menhaden and its oil are used in animal feed and other products.
Another important industry along the gulf is tourism. Coastal communities have been waiting and watching for days for oil to arrive on their shores.

Bad weather has interfered with efforts to send out boats to clean up the oil and watch for the effects on wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Bird populations are among those at risk of being poisoned by the oil. Bird rescue groups have set up stations. But they say finding injured birds in the huge spill and sending out boats to rescue them will be a difficult job.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with Brian Wagner reporting from Louisiana. I’m Bob Doughty.

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