Apparatus for treating and cleansing a feed trough having a longitudinally extending upwardly open channel of round, curved or rectangular section by the concurrent steps of supporting a cylindrical brush means having a central longitudinally extending axis in the trough channel; rotating the brush about its axis and thereby contacting and brushing said trough channel and thereby applying a force between the trough channel and rotating brush while supporting the rotating brush in the channel against that force between the rotating brush and the trough channel; and moving the brush along the length of the trough with the axis of the brush at an angle to the length of the trough channel, the brush contacting the bottom and horizontally spaced-apart vertically extending wall portions of the trough channel, in alternating combination with the step of stirring the feed in said trough by concurrent steps of supporting in said trough, pivotally about a horizontal axis above said trough, plowlike stirring means extending transversely of the length of said channel of said trough and moving said stirring means along the length of the trough through the feed in said trough. The apparatus for supporting and locating and moving the brush along the length of the trough is the same as the apparatus for supporting, locating and moving the stirring means.