Infrared thermography on animal livestock

Abstract

Infrared thermography has become increasingly promising in veterinary medicine, for being a non-invasive method for detecting body thermal variation. The objective of this review was to elucidate some applications of infrared thermography and its importance on animal livestock. This tool can substitute conventional techniques for diagnosing diseases, inflammation and fever. The body temperature is an important indicator to diagnostics and to understanding physiological aspects due to the close relation between abnormal temperatures and inflammatory processes. Also, it can help monitor reproductive performance and identify more efficient animals, among other purposes. The measurement of infrared temperature allows identifying sick animals, before the appearance of clinical symptoms, making treatment and isolation faster and more accurate, enhancing the profitability and sustainability of the system. However, this tool has some limitations, such as the animal species and environmental factors. Thus, further studies are needed for the application of the thermographic on animal livestock.