Mating behaviour in a small flock of lowland sheep

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Abstract
SUMMARY: A flock of Polled Dorset Horn ewes joined with three Polled Dorset Horn rams were observed during the hours of daylight, for 17 days, when all the ewes were known to be showing oestrus regularly. The number of approaches, mounts and serves made by the rams and the identities of the ewes involved were recorded.The mean and SE for the number of services per ewe in oestrus was 4·2 ± 0·3. There were no significant differences in sexual performance between the rams apart from the number of mounts and the mount to service ratio. The number of ewes served per ram and the number of services per ewe in oestrus declined significantly over the 17-day period. Ram performance was significantly related to the number of ewes in oestrus and to the time that the rams had been joined with the same group of stimulative animals (e.g. multiple regression of number of services x with time y and number of ewes in oestrus z is: x = −0·72y + 1·3z + 8·8).