Effects of Heat Stress in Dairy Cows Raised in the Confined System: A Scientometric Review

Studies on the effect of thermal stress on lactating cows have increased considerably in recent years. Feedlot systems for dairy cows have become popular around the world. This article aims to develop a scientometric analysis to evaluate studies on thermal stress in lactating cows housed in a free-stall, tie-stall, and compost-bedded pack barn system. A total of 604 studies from the Web of Science database was considered for this study. The data obtained from the Web of Science was exported to Citespace software. The most used keywords by the researchers were “heat stress”, “dairy cow” and “cattle”. The most relevant countries, authors, institutions, and networks of co-occurrences for our research were highlighted. This article provides a comprehensive review of thermal stress in lactating cows housed in confinement in the last 22 years and contributes to future research in this area.