Grooming is an important behaviour for cattle. It helps them to keep a healthy coat and skin by removing dirt and parasites. Cattle groom themselves and their herd mates by licking. In nature, they also use tree bark and other rough surfaces to scratch areas of their body that are difficult to reach.
However, on most Canadian dairy farms cattle are housed indoors (PDF) they don’t have access to scratching surfaces for grooming. For this reason, some dairy farmers provide their cattle with brushes, much like those you see at an automated car wash, that make it easier for cattle to scratch those hard to reach places.
According to recent research (PDF) from the School of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Perth, cattle really want to be brushed! In fact, research on dairy calves also shows that brushing helps reduce stress levels and improve oxytocin levels (happy hormone) in Cattle.
Another study showed that cattle that have access to a brush are cleaner and groom themselves for about five times longer than when brushes are not available.
At the BC SPCA, we are always working to build a better future for Canada’s farm animals. That’s why our SPCA Certified standards require that dairy cattle always have access to brushes for grooming, and recommend them for beef cattle too.
If your are passionate about cattle welfare, sign up for our Action Alerts to stay informed as the Codes of Practice are being updated. The next code update will be the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle scheduled to open for comment period March 2nd 2026.
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