Measurement of temperature of the mammary gland in pigs with thermal imaging for diagnosis of MMA

Sindrom mastitisa, metritisa in agalakcije, poznamo pod kratico MMA. MMA se pojavi pri plemenskih svinjah in vpliva na dobrobit svinje ter na preživetje in rast pujskov v prvih dneh življenja. Z zgodnjo in živali prijazno metodo diagnoze MMA povečamo možnost preživetja pujskov in zmanjšamo stroške zdravljenja. Cilja raziskave sta ugotoviti, ali lahko prej dokažemo MMA z uporabo toplotne kamere, kot z merjenjem rektalne temperature in primerjava dveh toplotnih kamer različnega cenovnega razreda. Merjenje rektalne temperature povzroča prašičem stres, medtem ko je merjenje temperature s toplotno kamero povsem neinvazivna metoda. Uporabljali smo dve različno kakovostni umerjeni toplotni kameri pod enakimi pogoji in primerjali rezultate. Temperaturo smo merili 21 plemenskim svinjam na farmi prašičev, kjer je visoka incidenca MMA. Analizirali smo več kot 10000 meritev in rezultate grafično prikazali. Ugotovili smo trend povišanja rektalne temperature in temperature mlečne žleze po prasitvi. Prve mlečne žleze so toplejše od zadnjih. Svinjam smo pod enakimi pogoji v enakem času glede na prasitev izmerili temperature posameznih mlečnih žlez v območju do 7,5 °C. Toplotno slikanje v primerjavi z merjenjem rektalne temperature ne moremo šteti za zanesljivo in učinkovito preventivno zaznavanje MMA. Zaradi prevelikega raztrosa meritev temperatur mlečnih žlez ne moremo zanesljivo povezati s pojavom MMA. Boljša toplotna kamera ima manjšo merilno napako na robu merjenega objekta. Korelacije med temperaturo mlečne žleze, rektalno temperaturo svinje in temperaturo zraka kažejo od neznatnih do zelo močnih povezanostih.The syndroms mastitis, metrisis and agalactia are also called MMA. MMA appear with sows and it influences the growth of piglets in their first few days. With early and animal friendly MMA diagnose, we can increase the survival of the piglets and decrease the cost of medical bills. The aim of the research is to find out if its faster to find MMAs using the termal camera as using rectal temerature measurement and the comparison between two different price class thermal cameras. Measuring rectal temerature is causing stress to the sows while using the thermal camera is non invasive method. We used two differently price thermal cameras with equal conditions and we compared the results. On a pig farm 21 sows were measured, where the MMAs are common. We analysed over 10000 measurements and graphically displayed the results. We found out the trend of rectal temperature and the temperature of milk glands after farrowing. The first of the milk glands are most warm. Sows in equal conditions and in the same time frame based on farrowing, we measured their individual milk gland temperature in the range of 7,5 °C. Thermal imaging compared to rectal temperature measurement could not be considered as a reliable tool for effective and preventive action for early detection of MMA. Due to large deviation of results temperatures of the mammary gland can\u27t be uniquely linked to the occurrence of MMA. A better thermal camera has a smaller measuring error at the edge of the measured object. Correlations between the temperature of the mammary gland, the rectal temperature of the pig and the air temperature show from insignificant to very strong connections