Bovine Thermometry

This dataset contains rectal and cutaneous temperature measurements from 24 clinically healthy or stable cattle, monitored twice daily over five consecutive days. Body temperature was measured using five different devices: mercury, digital, ecological (galinstan-based), infrared thermometers, and an infrared thermographic camera. Cutaneous temperatures were assessed at the forehead, eyes, axillae, and perineum. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and agreement of alternative thermometers compared to the mercury thermometer, which has been globally banned due to toxicological concerns. The results indicate that both ecological and digital thermometers showed strong correlation (r ≥ 0.85) and acceptable agreement with mercury thermometers (mean difference < 0.3 °C; SD < 0.5 °C), suggesting they are suitable for clinical use. Infrared-based methods (thermometer and thermography) showed moderate-to-high correlations, especially at the ocular and perineal regions, but did not meet the agreement criteria for clinical substitution. The dataset includes raw temperature values, environmental conditions, and statistical analyses (correlation coefficients and Bland–Altman plots) and may support future research on non-invasive temperature monitoring in cattle.