Roller Crusher - A machine used in haymaking which passes freshly cut grass between steel or rubber faced rollers rotating at high speed, bruising the grass and allowing sap to be removed subsequently by the action of sun and air. The rollers may be cleated or grooved to provide more effective bruising.

Roller Mill - Crushing Mill.

Roman - A moderate-sized, white-coloured breed of goose, producing between 50 to 60 eggs per year.

Rood - An old measure of land equal to ¼ acre (1210sq.yds) or 40sq. Poles.

Roost - 1. A perch of resting place for a bird. Also a number of birds nesting together.
2. A henhouse.

Rooster - A domestic Cock.

Root Crops - Certain biennial plants grown for their edible swollen roots which act as food reserves, commonly in the form of sugar. The Mangel, Turnip, Swede and Fodder Beet are mainly grown as stock feed. The total area grown has decreased during this century due to high labour demands, but they are increasing again in popularity with mechanisation. Sugar Beet and Carrots and also the Potato (usually classified as a root crop) are mainly grown as cash crops. The ‘tops’ or foliage of root crops (except carrots and mangels) are valuable fodder, and sheep or pigs are often folded (Fold) on them. Root crops are often grown following or between cereal crops in rotation. Also called roots.

Root Graft - A graft which lies beneath the soil surface, in which the scion in joined to the root of the stock.

Rootle - To turn up earth with the snout. Also called root or rout.

Rot - Fungal or bacterial infection resulting in softing, discolouration and disintegration (in some types) of succulent plant tissues.

Rotary Cultivator - A type of tractor mounted or trailed cultivator consisting of a horizontal shaft driven by p.t.o. from the tractor, and bearing a series of tines or blades of various designs which rotate with a 'stirring' action. Used for a variety of purposes.

Rotation - A cropping system in which two or more crops are grown in a field in a fixed sequence. If a ley is included it is known as 'alternate husbandry' or 'ley farming'. The benefits of rotation include reduced accumulation of disease and pests which accompany monoculture, weed control, the maintenance and improvement of fertility, spreading the risk of specific crop failure, and the even distribution of labour requirements over the year. In recent years farming has moved away from rigid traditional cropping programmes to more simplified systems due to various developments. These include the production of pesticides and artificial fertilizers, improved and increased mechanisation and guaranteed crop prices.

Rotational Grazing - A method of managing grassland in which successive areas are intensively grazed for a period, in which defoliation is rapid and complete, followed by a rest period during which regrowth occurs. This method (also called the on off principle) is used in a number of grazing systems as a means of matching livestock requirements with grass growth.

Rough Grazing - A term generally applied to grassland of poor quality with a low stock carrying capacity, particularly that covering rough land, Heath, Moorland and hill areas, where cultivation and the use of fertilizers is impractical, and which is characterised by coarse grasses, sedges, heather, bracken or mosses, etc. Such land is usually grazed by hardy hill breeds of sheep and some cattle.

Rough Stalked Meadow Grass - A close growing perennial grass (Poa trivialis) with short creeping stolons, a rough, flat stem, and an erect panicled flower head, reddish, purplish or green in colour. It is common in lowland meadows and pastures, particularly on rich moist soils. It is included in Seeds Mixtures for permanent pasture , particularly those on wet heavy soils, and grows vigorously producing a low closely knit sward which remains green through the winder. It is very palatable to livestock and is also useful for hay.

Roughage - Bulky feedingstuffs containing fibre in significant amounts e.g., hay and straw, which stimulate inestinal muscular activity.

Roup - A chronic respiratory disease of poultry causing loss of condition and reduced egg production. Also called croup.

Row Crops - Those crops planted in widely spaced rows facilitating cultivations between the rows, e.g. rootcrops, potatoes, cabbages, etc.

Row-crop Tractors - Tractors designed to work in growing Row Crops. They usually have high, narrow wheels giving good ground clearance, an adjustable track width, and a narrow turning circle. They are used with special tools for cultivating between the rows. Most models are four-wheeled although some have only three wheels.

Rub - A measure of the quality of a sample of hops obtained by rubbing the sample with the hands and estimating the amount of sticky resinous material left on the hands, and the ‘feel' or silkiness of the hops.

Rubarth's Disease - Acute contagious disease affecting mainly young dogs, characterised by fever, vomitting, diarrhoea and sometimes convulsions. It is caused by a filterable virus.

Rubbed Seed - Sugar beet seeds used for sowing which have been separated from the clusters in which they are naturally fused together. Also called graded seed.

Rubber - Planker.

Rubbers - A term for Sheep Scab.

Ruddle - A colouring material (often red ochre) applied to the chest of a ram so that those ewes which have been covered (mated with) are marked. Also called keel, raddle or reddle.

Rumen - The first stomach of a Ruminant, a large sac lined with a mucous membrane in which coarse, partly chewed food is churned, partially.

Ruminants - Animals such as the cow and sheep which ruminate or in other words, chew a cud. An animals's cud consists of boluses of feed caten earlier. Ruminants have a multi-compartment stomach. By means of the microbial fermentation processes of the rumen, such animals are able to make effective use of high fibre feeds and as a result are frequently fed rations containing high levels of fibrous feeds.

Ruminats - To chew the cud.

Run - An enclosure for animals, particularly poultry, in which they are free to roam and feed.

Runt - 1. A small, undersized or stunted animal, particularly the smallest piglet in a litter. Also called anthony, cadme, deniel, dilling, dolly, sharger or wrenock.
2. An old cow or ox.
3. A Store animal.
4. A dead tree trunk or stump.
5. A cabbage stem.

Rusts - An order of small parasitic Basidiomycete fungi (Uredinales), the spores of which from spots, often rust coloured, on the leaves and stems of infected plants, e.g. Black Rust of barley.

Rut - A seasonal period of sexual excitement in male animals, particularly deer, when there is an urge to mate.

Rye - The hardiest of the Cereal crops (Scale cereale). It has a similarstructure to Wheat, with single spikelets attached to each notch of the Rachis, but also has small narrow Glumes and conspicuous large outer pales tapering to long whiskery awns.

Ryegrass - One of the most important genera of grasses (Lolium sp.) used in Seeds Mixtures.