In goats and sheep from the temperate and subtropical latitudes, the breeding season lasts from early autumn to late winter, whereas the anestrous season lasts from late winter to late summer. In prepubertal or postpartum females, the duration of the quiescent period depends mainly on the season of parturition and of nursing duration. In both situations, the ovulatory activity starts only during the breeding season. Photoperiod has been generally considered as a major regulator of all these periods of reproductive activity/inactivity in female sheep and goats (ie puberty, seasonal anestrus, postpartum anestrus). In particular, regarding seasonal anestrus, the sociosexual interactions between males and females have been considered to have only a modulatory role, limited to few weeks preceding the onset or after the offset of the breeding season. Nonetheless, we recently showed that the use of sexually active males plays a crucial role to trigger ovulatory and estrous activities during the anestrous season and also in prepubertal and postpartum females. In fact, in females exposed to sexually active males, puberty is strikingly advanced in comparison with females exposed to sexually inactive castrated males or to isolated females (6 mo vs 7.5 mo). Most females (>85%) exposed during the anestrous season to sexually active males ovulated, whereas a low proportion of them ovulated when in contact with sexually inactive males (<10%). Interestingly, the presence of these sexually active males allows females to ovulate all the year round and prevents the seasonal decrease of LH plasma concentrations in ovariectomized females treated with an estradiol implant. Finally, the presence of sexually active males triggers ovulation in postpartum anestrous females nursing their offspring. All these findings show that sexually active males can play an important role to reduce anestrous periods. We need, therefore, to reconsider the relative weight of sociosexual relationships, compared with photoperiod, in the management of reproduction of goat does and ewes.

在温带和亚热带纬度的山羊和绵羊中，繁殖季节从初秋持续到冬末，而无情季节从冬末到夏末。在青春期前或产后的女性中，静止期的持续时间主要取决于分娩的季节和哺乳期的长短。在这两种情况下，排卵活动仅在繁殖季节开始。光周期通常被认为是雌性绵羊和山羊所有这些生殖活动/不活动时期（即青春期、季节性无情期、产后无情期）的主要调节因素。特别是，关于季节性无情，雄性和雌性之间的社会性互动被认为仅具有调节作用，仅限于繁殖季节开始前或偏移后的几周内。尽管如此，我们最近表明，在无发情季节以及青春期前和产后女性中，使用性活跃的男性在触发排卵和发情活动方面起着至关重要的作用。事实上，在接触性活跃的男性的女性中，与接触性不活跃的阉割男性或孤立的女性的女性相比，青春期显着提前（6 个月对 7.5 个月）。大多数雌性（>85%）在无情期接触性活跃的雄性会排卵，而在与性不活跃的雄性接触时（<10%）会排卵。有趣的是，这些性活跃男性的存在使女性全年都能排卵，并防止接受雌二醇植入物治疗的去卵巢女性的 LH 血浆浓度季节性下降。最后，性活跃的雄性的存在会触发产后无情雌性哺乳其后代的排卵。所有这些发现表明，性活跃的男性可以在减少无情期方面发挥重要作用。因此，与光周期相比，我们需要重新考虑社会性关系在山羊和母羊繁殖管理中的相对权重。