Preliminary study on the relationship between skin temperature of piglets measured by infrared thermography and environmental temperature in a vehicle in transit

During two 14-h journeys, carried out in July and September 2009, respectively, the variation in skin temperature measured by infrared thermography was examined on a total of 12 piglets. A thermal camera was placed in front of the pen during the first journey and above the pen during the second. The temperature inside the vehicle was registered throughout the journeys. A positive linear relationship was observed between skin and internal vehicle temperatures with an R 2 of 0.44 and 0.57 in July and September, respectively. The results obtained in this preliminary experiment showed the possibility of recording thermal images of piglets in transit. Thus, thermography, coupled with other body-temperature-recording techniques, could be valuable for assessing the adaptive efforts of pigs to environmental conditions experienced during transport.