Evaluating the reproductive ability of breeding rams in North-Eastern Spain using clinical examination of the body and external genitalia.

Background: Predicting the ability of rams to detect, mate and fertilise ewes in oestrus accurately is certainly difficult; however, tests based on clinical examinations have been performed to assess the overall potential capacity of rams to serve and impregnate ewes. Clinical examinations for breeding soundness evaluation were carried out in 897 Rasa Aragonesa (RA) rams from 35 flocks in North-Eastern (NE) Spain. Clinical examinations of head, trunk, limbs and genitals were performed in each ram.