It is important to recognize that even though a male might have adequate sperm production in...

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Medical Sciences

It is important to recognize that even though a male might haveadequate sperm production in the testes, depletion of the reservesin the cauda epididymis can occur rapidly. From a practicalstandpoint, how many females can a animal male service in a day?Explain your reasoning.

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Although your question is quite specific for Veterinary Gynecology Obstetrics but I will try my best to explain you the concept by the help of example of BULL and COW mating system General recommendations for bullcow ratios The textbook recommendation for bullcow ratio is typically 1 bull2030 females with mature bulls closer to the 130 ratio and yearling bulls at 1 bull20 cows In cows in which estrous synchronization is used the recommendations are altered by necessity One mature bull with 15 to 30 cows confined to a small area is a typical recommendation for a system where a majority of the cows are expected in estrus over a 5 day period At least a 10 day rest between breeding periods is suggested with this type of breeding challenge As might be anticipated there is general disagreement with these recommendations among cattlemen Some feel these numbers are too low while others feel that the recommendations are too high especially for yearling bulls An easy answer to the question of how many females a particular bull can service in a breeding season is not usually available Perhaps the most foolproof way to determine the mating capacity of a bull or in other words the appropriate bullcow ratio is from past experience with the sire After 12 breeding seasons an observant manager would have a good idea of the potential of a given sire for mating capacity Unfortunately by the time a sire has demonstrated his potential he has often outlived his usefulness from a genetic standpoint for a given operation What are the limits for the bullcow ratio Some information is available from research trials Reports vary in regard to the limits In some studies performance for some bulls at ratios of 144 or 160 were equal to that achieved at ratios of 125 for other bulls However at these higher ratios a few bulls failed and achieved unacceptable rates of conception Thus the problem still exists that general recommendations of bullcow ratios for all situations do not exist Rather the mating capacity of an individual bull is more important to reproductive success than the bullcow ratio Two of the primary factors that affect mating are discussed here Determinants of mating capacity 1 Seminal Quality a Semen quality and b Semen quantity 2 Serving Capacity a Libido or sexdrivewillingness and eagerness and b Mating ability competence of fulfilling aspiration Economic importance of mating capacity The importance of the bull in reproductive efficiency is often overlooked by producers educators and research scientists It is clear that the capacity of the bull to perform is limited by the fertility of the cowherd Thus a majority of efforts have and are placed upon ensuring that reproductive potential of the females in the herd is optimized In short we have come to assume that the bull will do his job if we make the correct management decisions regarding the cow herd While in a majority of cases we get by with this type of approach the economic implications of failure or reduced performance of bulls in a natural mating program can be disastrous Even if the managerial and financial investments are made to See Answer

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