Regional differences in body temperature in hypothermic and rewarmed young calves

Abstract

One- to 7-day-old Holstein bull calves were anesthetized and cold-stressed until their core body temperature (CBT; colonic) was lowered by 10 C. The calves were then rewarmed in warm water, by heat pads or heat lamps, or allowed to recover naturally (unassisted). Temperatures of peripheral tissues, muscles, and the body core were recorded. The time required to lower the CBT of the cold-stressed calves was 168 +/- 11.7 minutes (mean +/- SE). Cold exposure caused a linear decrease in blood, colonic, rectal, and oral temperatures, whereas temperature decreases in the thigh and pectoral muscles, dorsal and ventral thoracic regions, and the hock joint region were generally of greater magnitude and were curvilinear in pattern. By the time the CBT had decreased 1 C, tissue temperatures during cooling were less than (P less than 0.01) the respective temperatures obtained before cooling. The mean time required to rewarm the calves in warm water (47.1 +/- 3.5 minutes) was less than (P less than 0.05) that for the other rewarming methods. The mean rewarming times for the heat pad (128 +/- 12.8) and heat lamp (125.4 +/- 10.9) methods were greater than (P less than 0.05) that for the warm water method, but less than (P less than 0.05) that for the unassisted calves (190.7 +/- 23.1). In general, there was a linear increase in most of the tissue temperatures during recovery although temperatures in the hock joint region were variable. Temperature differences were observed between the thigh and pectoral muscles and between subcutaneous tissues during cooling and recovery. There was poor correlation between the ages of the calves and the time required to decrease their CBT during cooling and also the time required to increase their CBT, regardless of the rewarming method used.