GLOSSARY
Controlled traffic farming
Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) is a farming system that permanently separates wheel traffic lanes from the soil in which the crop grows. The equipment which can be used includes tractors, spray equipment and harvesting equipment, running on the identical track width or multiplies of the track width.
Crop stubble and trash
Crop stubble includes crop roots and stems left in the ground after the harvest process. Chaff or trash is the material remaining after the plant has been processed through the harvester.
Cultivation
Loosening and breaking up of the soil to destroy weeds and promote growth by increasing soil aeration and water infiltration. Methods include ploughing, scarifying and harrowing.
Fallow land
Crop land that is not seeded for a season; it may or may not be ploughed. The land may be cultivated or chemically treated for the control of weeds and other pests or may be left unaltered.
Feed additive
This includes rumen buffers, probiotics, prebiotics, antibiotics and tannins.
Feed supplement
This includes dietary oils, lick blocks and vitamin and mineral supplements
Feedlot
A system of intensive farming of beef cattle or sheep, prior to sale. A feedlot is a confined yard area with watering and feeding facilities where stock are held and completely hand or mechanically fed for the purpose of production.
Feral animal
The survey providing data for this publication focused upon feral ruminant animals, i.e. animals that have four chambered stomachs, such as water buffalo, feral camels and feral goats. Ruminant animals have higher methane emissions than animals with a simple stomach. Foxes, rabbits/hares, mice, cats, dogs, native animals and birds were not included.
Intercropping
The growing of two or more crops on the same agricultural land at the same time. Types of intercropping include mixed inter-row, relay, row-alley, strip and cover cropping.
Lick block
Lick Blocks are used for stock as a way of providing salt and extra vitamins and minerals.
Mallee
The word mallee is used to describe plants that grow from an underground tuber with multiple stems to no more than 10 metres. It is most common in eucalypts.
Nitrification inhibitor
Nitrification inhibitors help reduce loss of nitrogen from the soil as compounds such as nitrous oxide, a major greenhouse gas.
No cultivation
A method of land preparation which does not use cultivation apart from the actual planting of the crop. It usually involves the use of herbicides in place of cultivation to remove weeds, etc. prior to sowing. It is sometimes referred to as 'no tillage' or 'zero tillage'.
One or two cultivations
Land preparation with a limited total number of cultivations (discing, ploughing, scarifying, harrowing, etc.) occurring immediately prior to sowing. It is sometimes referred to as minimum tillage.
Pasture
A grazing area covered with grasses, herbs and/or legumes.
Pasture improvement
Improvement of pasture through introduction of grasses and/or legumes.
Pasture management
Includes practices such as maintenance of ground cover, removal of old pasture and pasture improvement.
Perennial pasture/grasses
A term describing grasses which live for more than two years e.g. ryegrass, cocksfoot and phalaris.
Regenerated vegetation
Regrowth of plant material that had previously been lost or destroyed.
Rumen buffer
Ruminant animals have a four chambered stomach and the rumen is the first of these chambers. Rumen buffers are used to neutralise acids in the rumen.
Set Stocking
Set stocking describes the practice of grazing livestock in a particular paddock for an extended period of time.
Slow release fertiliser
Also referred to as coated fertiliser. These can be encased in a special coating or compressed into pellets to slow down the nutrient release.
Soil enhancer
Substance added to soil to correct soil deficiencies in structure, pH and/or nutrients. Examples are lime, dolomite and gypsum.
Sown pasture
Pasture which has been introduced by sowing grasses, legumes and herbs, including native and introduced species for stock grazing or hay/silage making.
Tactical grazing
In this publication tactical grazing refers to businesses practising a range of grazing methods, including set stocking and rotational grazing, throughout a single year or series of years, to meet different animal and pasture objectives at various times.
Turned Off
Stock that have been sold or have left the property.
Water logging avoidance practices
These include permanent raised beds, slotted pipes, siphons and pumps. Waterlogging prevents entry of air into the soil, can lead to soil salinity through leaching and increases nitrous oxide production which is a major greenhouse gas.
Wetland
An area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water.
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