The aim of this study was to evaluate surface temperature of covering materials used in individual hutches for calves during lactating period, through thermal images. The experiment was carried out from January to March of 2012, lasting for 56 days, on 24 individual housings for Girolando calves. The treatments were composed of three types of covering materials: palm straw, recycled polymer tile and asbestos cement tile. A completely randomized design was adopted, and in order to compare means the Tukey test (p < 0.05) was used. The results showed that there was a significant difference among the studied treatments, in which the recycled tiles presented lower mean temperature values on the superior surface throughout the experimental period, being the maximum value around 36.9 ºC and the minimum 14.4 ºC. Straw-covered and recycled-tile-covered hutches presented a better thermal performance when compared to asbestos-cement-covered ones, probably a better thermal comfort condition for housed animals.
dairy cattle; thermal comfort; thermography
