OBJECTIVE To determine whether infrared thermographic images obtained the morning after overnight heat abatement could be used as the basis for diagnostic algorithms to predict subsequent heat stress events in feedlot cattle exposed to high ambient temperatures. ANIMALS 60 crossbred beef heifers (mean ± SD body weight, 385.8 ± 20.3 kg). PROCEDURES Calves were housed in groups of 20 in 3 pens without any shade. During the 6 am and 3 pm hours on each of 10 days during a 14-day period when the daily ambient temperature was forecasted to be > 29.4°C, an investigator walked outside each pen and obtained profile digital thermal images of and assigned panting scores to calves near the periphery of the pen. Relationships between infrared thermographic data and panting scores were evaluated with artificial learning models. RESULTS Afternoon panting score was positively associated with morning but not afternoon thermographic data (body surface temperature). Evaluation of multiple artificial learning models indicated that morning body surface temperature was not an accurate predictor of an afternoon heat stress event, and thermographic data were of little predictive benefit, compared with morning and forecasted weather conditions. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated infrared thermography was an objective method to monitor beef calves for heat stress in research settings. However, thermographic data obtained in the morning did not accurately predict which calves would develop heat stress later in the day. The use of infrared thermography as a diagnostic tool for monitoring heat stress in feedlot cattle requires further investigation.

rcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, caused by the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), is an economically important disease in the swine industry. Previous studies demonstrated the presence of the virus in pig meat and its transmissibility by oral consumption. This study further analyzed the infectivity of PRRSV in commercial pig meat. Fresh bottom meat pieces (n = 1500) randomly selected over a period of 2 y from a pork ham boning plant located in Quebec, Canada, were tested by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Each trimmed meat was stored in the plant freezer, subsampled weekly for up to 15 wk, and tested with quantitative RT-PCR to determine the viral load. Meat infectivity was evaluated using specific pathogen-free piglets, each fed with approximately 500 g of meat at the end of the storage time. Genotype-specific RT-PCR confirmed the presence of PRRSV mainly during cold weather in 0.73% of the fresh meat pieces. Wild and vaccine strains of genotype 2 were detected. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus nucleic acid was stable in meat stored at around -20°C during the 15 wk. Serological and molecular analysis showed the transmission of infection by a majority of PRRSV positive meat pieces (5/9) fed orally to naïve recipients. The results confirmed a low prevalence of PRRSV in market's pig meat, and virus transmissibility by oral consumption to naïve recipients even after several weeks of storage in a commercial freezer. It occurred mainly with meat harboring the highest PRRSV RNA copies, in the range of 109 copies per 500 g of meat, with both wild type and vaccine-related strains.