Environmental factors

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Nutrition

  • Thin emaciated semi starved males or those suffering from deficiencies of TDN, vitamin A, protein and certain minerals such as phosphorus and cobalt may have a definitely reduced sex desire
  • Inanition is severe enough a complete lack of libido results
  • Low level of energy diet in growing males delays the puberty and onset of libido.
  • Overfed animals tend to become obese and lazy, often suffer from joint and foot troubles which may lead to lack of sexual desire. .
  • Excessive roughage fed to the bulls and rams may cause great enlargement of the rumen and abdomen interfering with normal , easy copulation and contributing to a lack of sexual desire.

Systemic disease

  • Any chronic or acute, severe debilitating diseases resulting in rapid or prolonged loss of weight, or in anorexia, depression and weakness will cause a varying degree of loss of sexual desire.
  • These diseases may include
    • Pneumonia,
    • Enteritis,
    • Tuberculosis,
    • Para tuberculosis,
    • Severe mange and pediculosis,
    • Actinomycosis,
    • Lymphocytoma,
    • Progressive fat necrosis,
    • Severe internal parasitosis,
    • Advanced metastatic tumors,
    • Alveolar periostitis,
    • Traumatic gastritis,
    • Severe chronic peritonitis and others.

Age

  • Too young and too old animals usually exhibit a reduced to complete lack of sexual desire.
  • In older animals this may be due to decline in testosterone level, senility, loss of condition, overuse or to arthritis.
  • Inexperience in young male should not be confused with lack of sex desire.

Management

  • The management practice plays a major role which affects the sexual desire of male livestock.
  • Libido will vary with the animals depending upon their inherent sex drive and the way they are trained, handled and managed.
  • Young males should be carefully, patiently, quietly trained and handled, especially if they are to have their semen collected in artificial vagina.
  • If a male associates “sex” with pain or punishment, he may decide to give up “sex”.
  • Slow breeders can be easily discouraged and made slower by the insertion of a nose ring in a bull, harsh or abusive handling of the male by attendants, improper restraint of the mount animal, improper footing, mount animals that are not in estrum or are too tall or wide, use of an artificial vagina that is too cold or hot, improper preparation of the male for mounting, breeding large males in a confined area with a low ceiling, unskilled persons using an artificial vagina and excessive use of a male.
  • Males lacking libido if continuously used on the same female for semen collection frequently develop sexual indifference or satiation.
  • Frequent changing of stimulus or mount animal and the collection and breeding site are indicated in bulls inclined to show a lack of libido.
  • The presence of other males near the mount animal or in sight of the breeding male provides further stimulus.
  • Frequent changing of the mount animals, allowing several ‘false’ mounts where copulation is not allowed and moving the male to several different sites for teasing or stewing
  • Some stallions and jacks with low desire will fail to copulate with mares that are well-scrubbed and the tails bandaged. Others so vigorously bite the withers and neck of the mare after mounting that erection is lost. Muzzling if these males is indicated.
  • Stallions will perform intromission and make thrusting movements but fail to ejaculate. This is common in stallions with reduced libido that are being used too frequently for their reproductive capacity.

The failure to ejaculate can be noted by careful observation of the stallion at copulation by the

  • absence of the usual flagging of the tail,
  • absence of the pulsations of the penile urethra,
  • the failure of the stallion on dismounting to be content and relaxed
  • the lack of spermatozoa in the tail end sample of ejaculate collected from the penis as the stallion dismounts.
Psychic factors
  • Males with a genetically lowered sexual desire are much apt to develop this apparent psychic refusal to breed.
  • Some bulls with apparent psychic impotency may actually be affected with lesion of spinal columns.
  • These bulls could apparently have good sexual desire, mount rapidly, have lordosis in the lumbar region and the penis could be directed to escutcheon well below the vulva.
  • Rapid pelvic thrusts and seeking motions for vulva would occur but penile exposure was greatly reduced.
  • A prolonged period of sexual rest, a change in the site of copulation and careful preparation may be necessary to encourage the psychic males to again start to breed.
  • Shyness or slowness also noticed in boars.

Hypothyroidism, Hypogonadism or Pituitary deficiency

Based on the results of hormonal therapy, it is understood that a lack of hormones is not a common cause of lack of sexual desire in male animals.
Last modified: Monday, 4 June 2012, 9:28 AM