Q 

Quality certification standards (QCS) A set of national standards that must be met and maintained by state DHI organizations to assure the accuracy, uniformity and integrity of NCDHIP.

R 

Rate of passage The time taken by undigested residues from a given meal to reach the feces. 
Ration The food allowed an animal for 24 hours. See balanced ration. 
Raw milk Fresh, unprocessed milk as it comes from a cow, goat, or other mammal. 
Recalcitrant In plant nutrition, refers to that portion of a nutrient in the soil that is unavailable for biochemical activity or plant uptake.
Recessive See dominant. 
Reconstituted milks The product resulting from the mixing together and rehydration of a dried product of milk with water. For example, NDM and water yield reconstituted skim milk.
Record (2x, 305-day, ME) Estimates how much the cow would have produced during the present lactation when milked twice daily in the first 305 days of her lactation if she had been a mature cow calving in an average month.
Record in progress (RIP) A cow's production from her calving date until the most recent test day. 
Record plan Specific DHI program that provides a particular service to dairy farmers. The plans are either official or unofficial according to rules of the program.
Registered Purebred animal registered in the herdbook of the proper breed association. Certain associations (for example, the Red and White association) will register non-purebred cattle providing they satisfy certain other criteria.
Registration certificate Proof that the parentage of an animal is known and is recorded in the Breed Registry Herdbook. 
Regurgitate To cast up undigested food from the stomach to the mouth, as done by ruminants. 
Rennet An extract of the stomach of certain mammals containing rennin. It is used in the coagulation of milk proteins in the manufacture of most cheeses.
Reliability (REL) The term used in dairy cattle breeding to indicate the precision with which genetic merit is estimated. Reliability, then, is a confidence factor which increases with the (1) number of daughters, (2) number of herds in which daughters are located, (3) number of lactations per daughter, and (4) information of relatives used.
Retained placenta Placental membranes not expelled normally at parturition. 
Reticulum The second division or stomach compartment of a ruminant. Also called a honeycomb. 
Ride To be transported in a mounted position, as one cow mounted on another during estrus. 
Ring test A test for brucellosis performed by mixing stained Brucella bacteria with raw milk. If antibody to Brucella is present, the stained cells agglutinate (clump) and rise to the surface with the cream to form a blue ring.
Roan A close mixture of red and white colors such as is often found in Milking Shorthorn cattle. 
Rolling herd average (RHA) The average milk production per herd per year based on the 12 months just past. Upon completion of a new test record, the record for the same period of the previous year is deducted and the new record is added, then a new rolling 365-day average is calculated. RHA's are updated with each new test.
Rotary milking parlor A raised, round rotating platform or carousel on which cows ride while being milked. 
Roughage Consists of pasture, silage, hay, or other dry fodder. It may be of high or low quality. Roughages are usually high in crude fiber (more than 18 percent) and relatively low in NFE (approximately 40 percent). Also see forage.
Rugged When referring to an animal, it means large and strong. 
Rumen The first and largest stomach compartment of a ruminant; also calledpaunch. 
Ruminant One of the order of animals having a stomach with four complete cavities--rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum--through which food passes in digestion. These animals chew
their cud. They include cattle, sheep, goats, deer, and camels.
Rumination The casting up or regurgitation of food (cud) to be chewed a second time, as cattle do; a chewing of the cud by ruminants.
Runoff The portion of rainfall or irrigation water draining from fields into surface streams or bodies of water. May carry pollutants from field surfaces.
Run on To graze or pasture on, as for cattle to run on the range.