Association of sexual experience with isolation of various bacteria in cases of ovine epididymitis

Testicles from rams in flocks experiencing ram epididymitis in Idaho and eastern Oregon were cultured. Twenty-six breeding rams from 6 flocks were cultured and only Brucella ovis was isolated. Virgin rams (65) harbored numerous species of small fastidious gram-negative rods, including Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Haemophilus spp, Moraxella spp, and Pasteurella spp. Thus, there appeared to be 2 separate disease entities, dependent on sexual experience of the animal.