zero grazing, n.

zero-grazing
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-grazing_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero grazingnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zero grazing mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zero grazing. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zero grazing?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.005
1960 | 0.0056
1970 | 0.0058
1980 | 0.006
1990 | 0.0066
2000 | 0.0069
2010 | 0.0073

### Where does the noun zero grazing come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the noun zero grazing is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero grazing is from 1954, in Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Sentinel.

### Nearby entries

1. zero-derived, adj. 1971–
2. zero-dimensional, adj. 1880–
3. zero-emission, n. & adj. 1952–
4. zero-energy, adj. 1947–
5. zero-field, adj. 1915–
6. zero-G, adj. & n. 1950–
7. zero grade, n. 1888–
8. zero gravity, n. & adj. 1915–
9. zero-graze, v. 1954–
10. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
11. zero grazing, n.1954–
12. zero growth, n. 1907–
13. zero hour, n. 1915–
14. zero-hours, adj. 1988–
15. zeroing, n. 1906–
16. zeroize, v. 1894–
17. zero-length, adj. 1945–
18. zero-line, n. 1834–
19. zero magnet, n. 1890–
20. zero mark, n. 1821–
21. zero meridian, n. 1849–

## Meaning & use

Agriculture.

1. 1954–
   The practice of feeding cattle with cut grass brought to them instead of putting them out to pasture; cf. soiling n.4 1.
   1. 1954

      > Zero grazing—for larger herds with suitable harvesting equipment, feeding..by bringing feed in on a feed rack.

      Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Sentinel 25 May 11/3
   2. 1984

      > There are other herds that never go out into pasture... They have their grass cut and carted to them, a method called ‘zero-grazing’.

      ‘D. Archer’, Ambridge Years 19
   3. 2011

      > He specialised in beef and dairy husbandry and was responsible for the introduction of..zero grazing and bulk milk collection.

      Aberdeen Press & Journal (Nexis) 29 January 30
   agriculture
   1. winter feeding 1602–
      The action of winter-feed, v.
   2. soiling 1607–
      The action or practice of feeding horses, cows, etc., on fresh-cut green fodder, originally in order to cause purgation.
   3. low feeding 1688–
      The practice or result of providing domestic animals, esp. livestock, with a relatively limited amount of feed.
   4. house-feeding 1741–
      Feeding of animals done indoors, as opposed to grazing in a pasture, field, etc.
   5. fogging 1765–1915
      The action or practice of feeding farm animals on fog (fog, n.¹ 1a). Also (rarely): the action of farm animals in feeding on fog. Obsolete.
   6. cake feeding 1799–
      The feeding of animals with cake (in cake, n. A.I.4b), as opposed to grass, etc.
   7. stall-feeding 1805–
   8. suppering 1820–
      Chiefly Scottish and English regional (northern). The final feeding of animals in the evening, sometimes also including bedding them down. Also…
   9. box feeding 1843–
      The provision of food such as hay, grain, etc., to livestock kept in a barn or shed; (also) the provision of such food in a box or container to…
   10. warming 1874–
       With up: the action or condition of ‘warming up’ (see warm, v. I.3). Frequently attributive.
   11. self-feed 1894–
       A system of feeding livestock in which a continual supply of food is provided (typically using a self-feeder), so as to allow them to feed…
   12. self-feeding 1917–
       The action of self-feed, v. (in various senses). Frequently attributive.
   13. zero grazing 1954–
       The practice of feeding cattle with cut grass brought to them instead of putting them out to pasture; cf. soiling, n.⁴ 1.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero grazing typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zero grazing is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zero grazing, n., 1950–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1950 | 0.005
1960 | 0.0056
1970 | 0.0058
1980 | 0.006
1990 | 0.0066
2000 | 0.0069
2010 | 0.0073

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.