Studies in flock mating of sheep. 1. Mating behaviour

Abstract

The mating behaviour of Merino sheep under flock mating conditions was observed in two experiments. In the first, 100 ewes were run with a single ram for 17 days, and, in the second, 200 ewes were run with single rams or pairs of rams for periods of several days. The animals were kept in a paddock of 4.5 acres and were observed constantly during daylight hours; the rams were usually removed at night.A considerable range in sexual activity was noted with the five rams tested: the mean number of services per day (i.e. 11-13 hr) for individual rams ranged from 8 to 38, and the mean number of mounts per service from 1.7 to 3.7. The total number of services per day increased as the number of oestrous ewes increased, but not proportionately, so that the number of services per ewe decreased.The number of services per day by a ram did not appear to be markedly affected by competition from a dominant ram.