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How to Comb Your Calf the Right Way

Weaver Livestock ProStaffer Jon Gevelinger demonstrates how to comb your calf the right way in your daily routine. Following the steps below will help train your calf's hair to grow in the right direction, which makes fitting easier later on. Thoroughly combing and brushing also stimulates hair growth.

Jon’s go-to brushes for combing wet hair are a Plastic Fluffer Comb and a Wide Range Fluffer Brush, but you can use whatever works best for your calf’s hair type.

  1. Begin with a freshly washed or rinsed calf. Start by gently brushing the topline back towards the tailhead with your Wide Range Fluffer Brush. This is the direction that the hair naturally wants to lay. Don’t worry about parting it yet.
  2. Continue on to the legs and body, following the direction that hair naturally grows and making sure it’s going in the same direction. (This step is important to work the hair and pull it away from the hide, so it’s easier to brush it forward toward the front of your calf later on.)
  3. Use your comb to part the hair straight down the topline, combing half the hair onto the right side and half the hair onto the left. You want to create a straight line from the poll to the tailhead.
  4. Once you near the calf’s neck, you’ll notice a break in the hair or a cowlick, where the natural hair growth goes forward. Go ahead and brush that hair forward toward the head.
  5. When you finish parting the topline, move onto the tailhead. You want to take the part off each side of the tailhead. Make sure to keep the part high on the side of the tailhead to create a stronger silhouette.
  6. Use both your comb and brush to comb the hair on the sides of your calf’s body forward toward their head. Get as close to the part on the topline as possible.
  7. Move to the underline, and start by working the hair backwards and down with your brush. This breaks up the hair, so you then can easily comb the hair forward toward the head.
  8. Use your Wide Range Fluffer Brush to brush the hair on each side of the back leg forward toward the front. The curved brush head is ideal for working around the curves and angles of the leg.
  9. On the front leg, wrap the hair on each side forward and around the leg, blending it into the chest floor. Don’t forget to brush the hair on the chest floor forward as well.

Now you're ready to start drying your calf!