Thermal imaging for early detection of shoulder lesion development in sows

Shoulder lesions, or pressure sores, affect the welfare of sows and sows with serious ulcers are often taken out of production. Tissue damage usually occurs 2-3 weeks before the lesion is evident on the skin surface, indicating that infrared thermography may be useful when predicting shoulder lesions. This study examined whether thermal imaging can be used as a tool to identify sows at risk of developing shoulder lesions during lactation before clinical diagnosis is possible. The results showed that due to individual variations, single mean shoulder skin temperature readings alone were not sufficient to identify sows at risk of developing lesions. Instead, detection of hot spots was required. Hot spots are easily and instantly detected in thermal images and may be used for automatic risk assessment. Sows with identifiable hot spots may be a greater risk of developing clinically diagnosable lesions than those individuals that do not exhibit hot spots