Research of the effect of wet cleaning of cows’ skin with an automatic brushing device on heat stress in the summer

The article presents the results of a study of the effect of dry and wet cleaning of the skin of cows using automatic brushing devices on the level of thermal stress in summer in a dairy farm. The experiment was conducted on 30 cows in June 2024 at the State Farm named after him. Lenin Street, Moscow region. The animals were divided into three groups of 10 cows each. The study was conducted at an air temperature in the cowshed from 22 to 26 °C, increasing during the day, and a relative humidity of 55%. One of the groups is a control group, the second has access to a classic automatic brush (dry cleaning), the third group has access to an automatic brush with a brush pile wetting device (wet cleaning). The results showed that the use of dry and wet cleaning of the skin makes it possible to reduce the temperature of the skin at 26 °C by 1.5 °C and 4.6 °C, respectively, in comparison with the group of animals where animals did not have access to an automatic brush. As the ambient temperature increased from 22 to 26 °C at a relative humidity of 55%, the frequency of use of automatic brushes by animals increased. At the same time, as the ambient temperature increased, the frequency of animal approaches to automatic wet cleaning brushes increased by 13%. As the ambient temperature increases, the use time of automatic brushes by cows also increases. At a temperature of 26 °C, the average use time is 24% higher for wet cleaning brushes. The effect of using automatic moisturizing brushes to reduce thermal stress in cows has been established, providing the opportunity, in addition to local forced ventilation systems, to individually cool each animal according to its thermal sensations. 

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