THE HAY BARN GLOSSARY

Deferred delivery - A transaction common in many industries, including commodity merchandising, in which the buyer and seller agree upon delivery of a specified quality and quantity of goods at a specified future date and price or formula for establishing the price. Also known as forward contracting.

Defoliation - Strictly, the removal of plant leaves, but generally the removal of herbaceous material, e.g. by grazing, browsing, or cutting.

Delivered Price - Price of a commodity, including freight and handling charges, delivered at a destination at a specified time. Also called the "to arrive price".

Digestibility (apparent) - Digestibility determined by animal feeding trials, calculated as feed consumption minus excretion (feces), expressed as percent; does not account for endogenous excretions in teh feces..

Digestibility (true) - Actual digestiblity or availablility of feed, forage. or nutrient as represented by the balance between intake and fecal loss of the same ingested material with endogenous excretions in feces accounted for; in vitro digestibility without adjustment to in vivo base.

Drought - A prolonged period without precipitation during which the soil water content is reduced to such an extent that plants suffer from lack of water.

Drought tolerance - The ability of a species or strain to survive prolonged periods of dry weather. Tolerance ratings assume the species is well adapted to the normal environment, is being utilized each year, and is under good management.

Dry Matter (DM) - The substance in a plant remaining after oven drying to constant weight at a temperature slightly above the boiling point of water.

Dry Sheep Equivalent (DSE) - A measure based on the feed requirement of grazing animals, usually used to assess the capacity of land to carry livestock. The standard unit is represented by the ability to maintain a 45 kg wether at constant body weight from one year to the next. Other animals are rated in relation to this. For larger animals, see AU (animal unit).

The Hay Barn Glossary