ArticlePorcine health management2023
Infrared thermography as a possible technique for the estimation of parturition onset in sows.
Article in Porcine health management, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prediction of Sow Farrowing Onset Time Using Activity Time Series Extracted by Optical Flow Estimation.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Infrared Thermography as a Diagnostic Tool for the Assessment of Mastitis in Dairy Ruminants.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Review
- Instance Segmentation and Ensemble Learning for Automatic Temperature Detection in Multiparous Sows.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis study explores the possibility of using infrared thermography to estimate the onset of parturition in sows. Infrared camera (IRC) and infrared laser thermometer (IRT) were used to obtain the auricular skin temperature of sows along with rectal temperatures, from approximately one week before the anticipated farrowing until 24 h post-partum. Three commercial piglet producing farms were included in the study.
resultsThere were large variations in observed auricular skin temperature, both by IRC and IRT per time point. Graphical exploration of the observed auricular skin temperature measured by the two methods showed the same parallel patterns, although temperatures measured by IRC were higher at any time point compared to IRT. Auricular skin thermography revealed a clear increase in temperatures before farrowing. Statistical analyses, adjusting for differences between farms, sow activity and respiration rate, confirmed this increase. When controlling for these variables, and comparing the baseline temperatures to temperatures at farrowing, the difference was 3.9 and 4.1 °C measured with IRT and IRC, respectively. The greatest increase, of more than 2 °C, was found between 16 and 8 h and 8 to 4 h before farrowing. Rectal temperature increased by 0.5 °C in the same time interval and reached a temperature peak after farrowing.
conclusionSows showed a more than 2 °C increase in auricular skin temperature, measured by either IRC or IRT, 8 to16 hours before the first piglet was born. Hence, monitoring auricular skin temperatures of sows using infrared thermography one week before expected farrowing may provide a baseline temperature for each sow from which a sudden rise is indicative of parturition in the following 8 to 16 h. This may lead to more efficient allocation of human assistance during farrowing time and thereby improve farrowing management and the welfare of sows and their offspring.
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Registered trials
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