Effects of various steroid milieus or physiological states on sexual behavior of Holstein cows

Two experiments were conducted to determine how steroid milieus and pregnancy affect sexual behavior. Experiment 1 was arranged as a Latin square with five ovariectomized cows and five steroid milieus: no steroid (N); progesterone (P4); estradiol benzoate (EB); P4 + EB; and P4 followed by EB (P4:EB). Progesterone was administered via pessary (2 g of P4) for 5 d and EB was injected (1 mg i.m.) on the day before a test day. On a test day, cows were exposed for four 30-min periods, twice each with a tied or a loose estrual test cow (prepared using P4:EB). Sexual behaviors recorded were attempted mounts, successful mounts, front mounts, stands, head butts, chin rests, and vulvar sniffs. Cows exhibited more (P less than .05) sexual behavior during periods with the loose estrual test cow than with the tied estrual test cow. Cows receiving P4 alone ranked lowest among treatments for each behavior, whereas cows receiving EB or P4:EB ranked highest or second-highest. Progesterone prevented stands in cows given P4 + EB, but these cows displayed mounting behaviors similar to those of cows given EB and P4:EB. Cows given P4 + EB were similar to those given N for most behaviors. In Exp. 2, 118 intact, lactating cows were observed in groups of four or five for mounting of estrual test cows during 24, 30-min observation periods on 8 d over 2 yr. The design was an incomplete block with physiological state, parity, estradiol, progesterone, and a calculated estrogen:progesterone ratio included in the model. Each block included one or two cows at 23 +/- .8 d after insemination, divided retrospectively into one pregnant and two non-pregnant groups (low [less than 1 ng/mL] vs high progesterone), and other cows at 89 +/- 1.0, 152 +/- 1.2, and 234 +/- 1.7 d of gestation (six physiological groups). Most cows were observed once, but 27 cows were included twice during 2 yr. Only 60% of the 118 cows made attempted or successful mounts even though estrual test cows were always receptive. Physiological state was not associated with amount of mounting because very active (greater than or equal to five attempts) and inactive cows were represented in all physiological groups. The estrogen:progesterone ratio on test day accounted for small, but significant, variation in mounting behavior. For cows observed on two different days, correlations between successive observations were .46 for attempted mounts, .78 for successful mounts, and .71 for total mounts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)