RT Journal Article
T1 Preliminary applications of infrared thermography for detecting lameness in dairy cattle
A1 Álvarez, Jacobo
A1 Holgado, Raquel
A1 Vidal, Lucía
A1 Acción Carro, Antía
A1 Barrionuevo, Renato
A1 González, Román
A1 Yáñez, Uxía
A1 Becerra González, Juan José
A1 Peña Martínez, Ana Isabel
A1 García Herradón, Pedro José
A1 Quintela Arias, Luis Ángel
K1 locomotion score
K1 dairy cattle
K1 interdigital dermatitis
K1 hoof pathology
K1 infrared thermography (IRT)
AB This study investigated the potential use of infrared thermography (IRT) as a routine tool for the early diagnosis of laminitis in dairy cows, with a long-term goal of automating the method. The specific study objectives were as follows: (1) to establish any relationship between the maximum temperature (MT) of the coronary band and locomotion scores (LS); (2) to correlate the MT of different hoof regions (sole, interdigital space and coronary band) with lameness diseases; and (3) to assess whether parity influences hoof temperature. Thermal images of hind feet of 368 cows were captured with an infrared camera. Coronary band MTs were significantly higher in cows with LS ≥3 (cranial [CR] = 34.15 ± 2.07°C, caudal [CD] = 32.48 ± 3.02°C) than in cows with LS = 1 (CR = 32.13 ± 4.72°C, CD = 30.09 ± 5.81°C). Parity significantly influenced MTs, with lower temperatures recorded across all hoof regions in multiparous cows (≥3 calvings) than in primiparous cows. Additionally, hoof MTs were higher in cows with interdigital dermatitis (CR = 32.17 ± 2.24°C, CD = 30.66 ± 3.67°C, sole = 26.91 ± 2.48°C, interdigital space = 33.83 ± 2.40°C) than in healthy cows. These findings support the use of IRT to identify early signs of lameness and highlight the need for further research to enable automated thermographic monitoring in dairy herds.
PB Paradigm
SN 2300-8733
YR 2025
FD 2025-08-29
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/45140
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/45140
LA eng
NO (2025). Álvarez J., Holgado R., Vidal L., Acción A., Barrionuevo R., González R., Yáñez U., Becerra J.J., Peña A.I., Herradón P.G., Quintela L.Á. (2025). Preliminary applications of infrared thermography for detecting lameness in dairy cattle, Annals of Animal Science, DOI: 10.2478/aoas-2025-0084
DS Minerva
RD 6 jun 2026