Mastitis is defined as a multi-etiological disease that causes inflammation of the udder. It is one of the costliest production diseases accounting for an economic loss of 100 trillion US dollars globally and approximately Rs. 7165.51 crores in India. The incidence and prevalence rate is higher in sub-clinical mastitis than clinical mastitis in most herds throughout the World. It affects the quantity and quality of milk as well as the udder health of dairy animals. Poor sanitation and hygienic measures account for 67.8 percent of total factors responsible for flaring mastitic pathogens such as E. coli, Staph. aureus and Strept. uberis. Effective and early diagnosis of mastitis is highly essential in eradicating the disease from any herd. Along with the effective diagnosis, preventive measures also play a significant role in minimizing the cases of mastitis.

Early detection of sub-clinical mastitis via thermogram analysis by using a part of the milking machine without disturbing the dairy animal can be a milestone in precision farming. In the present study, thermal images of the short milking tube of milking machine representing four udder quarters independently attached to a milking animal, along with pre- and post-milking udder and teat thermograms were taken using a hand-held digital infrared thermal camera (DarviDTL007) during morning milking of lactating Murrah buffaloes (n = 132) to assess the sub-clinical mastitis status. California mastitis test (CMT) and somatic cell count (SCC) of milk samples were carried out to screen the udder quarters as healthy, sub-clinical (SCM), and clinical mastitis (CM). The thermograms revealed a significant increase (p < 0.05) of 2.19 and 3.72ºC in the mean values of short-milking-tube (SMT) surface temperature among SCM and CM quarters compared to healthy quarters, respectively. The mean values of udder skin surface temperature (USST) for pre-milking, milking, and post-milking of SCM and CM compared to healthy quarters showed significant increase (p < 0.05) of 2.17, 1.96 and 1.61ºC and 3.11, 2.88 and 2.73ºC, respectively. Similarly, the mean values of teat skin surface temperature (TSST) for pre-milking and post-milking of SCM and CM compared to healthy quarters showed an increase of 2.12 and 1.66ºC; and 3.07 and 2.45ºC, respectively. Also, CMT and SCC results showed strong positive correlation (r = 0.68–0.91, p < 0.01) with all the thermographic parameters. Thus, thermograms of SMT alone can be used as an efficient detection tool in assessing SCM among Murrah buffaloes.