language

Angora: The fibre from an Angora or mohair goat. Age: Billy goat: Entire male goat. Breeds (milking): Breeds (Fibre): Browse: Feeding habits of goat. They appear to be grazing casually here and there as they walk along. Also the name of feed offered. Buck: Entire male goat of any age. Cashmere: Fine downy fibre from … Read more

Aerobic: Chemical process that needs oxygen. Anaerobic: Chemical process that does not need oxygen. Annual ryegrass: Fast-establishing, winter-active ryegrass which generally persists for 9-12 months. Argentine stem weevil (ASW): Insect which attacks ryegrass, cereals, maize. Auricles: Claw-like projections a blade base, varying in size and hairiness. Used in identifcation. Autumn flush: Fresh growth of pasture … Read more

Baconer: Pig slaughtered at about 80 kg liveweight (60kg carcass) to produce bacon and ham. Barrow: A castrated male pig. Boar: Usually a male kept for serving females in the herd. Can be used to describe entire male of any age. Breeds: Farrowing: The process of giving birth to a litter. Farrowing crate: A structure … Read more

Albumen: Protein that makes up the white of an egg. Is made up of four different layers. Australorp: Dual purpose (eggs and meat) breed of fowl develop in Australia from Black Orpington. Bantam: Small type of fowl. Battery cage: Cage to hold laying hens. Can hold single or multiple birds. Beak trimming: Cutting and cauterising … Read more

Meat breeds Wool breeds

By Alison Johnson From a paper prepared when a final honours student at the School of English, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Printed in Northumbriana, No 19, Spring 1980. ISSN 0308-4809 PART 1 Interest in Northumbrian dialect stretches back through many centuries – the characteristic burr for instance was made famous by Hotspur in the thirteen hundreds, … Read more

By Alison JohnsonFrom a paper prepared when a final honours student at the School of English, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Printed in Northumbriana, No 20, Summer/Autumn 1980. ISSN 0308-4809 PART 2Although there has been a number of national dialect surveys undertaken in Europe before the turn of the century, it was not until the 1950s that … Read more

By Roland Bibby Northumbriana, No 37. Spring 1989 ISSN 0306-4809 The famous burr of Northumberland, the choking, rendering “r” sound, or rather its origin is an interesting subject. Most of Northumberland and a slice of North Durham were within the burr’s boundary in an 1890 survey. The burr has long been the Northumbrian’s trademark. Traditional … Read more

By Clive Dalton The late Harold Orton was a Professor in the English Department at the University of Leeds where his students used to go out during the summer vacation into rural areas to interview and record folk such as farm workers, game keepers and other rural workers. The English Department was near the Agriculture … Read more

As a daft laddie in the 1950s (see the editor 2nd from right above at Demesne Farm in Bellingham, with l to r Jack & Bob Beattie; the local Sergeant; Willie Potts with Jock; and Ante Dagg), you could count on a fine schooling in the art of the proper farm talk required in the … Read more