Everyone knows the satisfaction of having an itch scratched, and researchers at the University of British Columbia say cows appear to feel the same way.

A study from the animal welfare program at the school found dairy cows want to use a scratching brush just as much as they want to access fresh feed.

The program鈥檚 Prof. Marina von Keyserlingk, one of six co-authors of the report, said in nature, cows are outside and use trees and other abrasive surfaces to scratch themselves. But when they鈥檙e kept in a barn, scratching is almost impossible.

A scratching brush looks similar to a small bristled roller in a car wash. When the animal steps into or under the brush, it automatically begins rolling.

While researchers found that the cows liked using the brush for an average of seven minutes a day, they weren鈥檛 sure how important it was to get that scratch.

The researchers used a preference test for the cows and it showed they were willing to push through a weighted barrier to gain access to the brush just as much as they were willing to push through for fresh feed, von Keyserlingk said.

鈥淵ou know what it鈥檚 like to have an itch in those hard-to-get places,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o this allows them to really groom those hard-to-get places.鈥�

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Von Keyserlingk said they found the brush appeared to help the cattle reduce stress.

鈥淔or me, what I also think about is if she鈥檚 super itchy and she can鈥檛 alleviate that itch, it could be that she could be really frustrated,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what a frustrated cow necessarily looks like, because we haven鈥檛 really looked in this context, but it could actually improve her emotional state.鈥�

Published in the journal Biology Letters on Wednesday, the study says in some countries, including Denmark, providing cows with access to resources that promote coat care is mandatory.

鈥淐attle with access to mechanical brushes are clean and spend about fivefold more time grooming compared with when brushes are not available, suggesting that these brushes are important to the cow,鈥� the study says.

鈥淚 think brushes should be part of standard management practice, standard housing systems,鈥� von Keyserlingk said.

She said they aren鈥檛 sure why the cows like to groom themselves. It could be to get rid of dirt or, just like most mammals, they get itchy once in a while.

In the past, science has tended to focus on animal welfare by looking at all animals, but von Keyserlingk said that this study looks deeper.

鈥淲e know that not all animals are identical and so I鈥檓 really interested in this individual variation. Because it鈥檚 the individual animal that has the ability to suffer. So looking at these types of things, we can get a better insight into individual differences.鈥�

She couldn鈥檛 say that if a farmer added the brushes to their barn, they might have an increase in milk production, but the cattle could be more comfortable.

鈥淚 think that there鈥檚 a growing body of evidence now that having these brushes is good for the cows.鈥�

Terri Theodore , The Canadian Press

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