Sexual performance of rams as determined by maturation and sexual experience.

The purpose of this study was to compare the sexual performance of rams that differed in age (maturation) and sexual experience. Twenty-four ram lambs (8 mo of age) and 21 rams (20 mo of age) were individually exposed to four females in hormonally induced estrus for 30 min on five occasions, 7 d apart. Half (12) the ram lambs and nine of the yearlings were sexually naive at the start of testing (had been denied access to females since weaning); the remaining males were sexually experienced. The sexual performance of the virgin rams was poorer during the initial exposure to females than in subsequent tests, whereas the sexual behavior of the sexually experienced males did not change over the days of testing. Sexually naive ram lambs and rams exhibited an improvement in sexual performance between Tests 1 and 2; during Test 3 to 5 the sexual performance (ejaculations per test) of sexually naive and experienced rams was similar. The only effects of age (maturation) on sexual performance during the last three test days were a higher frequency of mounts without ejaculation plus mount attempts (P less than .03) and a greater number of mount interactions per ejaculation (P less than .02) by ram lambs. In conclusion, one or two relatively brief exposures to estrous females can bring the sexual performance of virgin rams up to levels comparable to that of experienced males. Also, ram lambs in good condition exhibit acceptable levels of sexual performance.