Rectal and infrared eye temperatures were collected before and after BTV inoculation. The two temperature measures were positively correlated (r = 0.504, P < 0.05). The highest correlation between rectal and infrared temperatures was observed when temperatures were above physiological levels. IRT discriminated between febrile and non-febrile sheep with a sensitivity of 85% and specificity of 97%. The results showed that eye temperature measured using IRT was a useful non-invasive method for the assessment of fever in sheep infected with BTV under experimental conditions. Further research is required to evaluate the use of IRT under field conditions to identify potentially infected animals in bluetongue surveillance programmes.