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Crutching refers to the removal of wool from around the tail and between the rear legs of a sheep.
Uses
The practice is mainly employed to lessen the risk of a sheep developing Myiasis (becoming fly-blown), which occurs when flies lay eggs in warm, damp wool and the fly larvae grow and eat into the warm, moist skin.
Crutching is also believed to improve the quality of fleece wool. For the highest quality wool, sheep are sometimes crutched immediately prior to shearing. However, most crutching is carried out at the start of the fly season (which depends on local climatic conditions) and may be needed at intervals of 6-8 weeks in high fly risk conditions. In addition, ewes are generally crutched prior to lambing (giving birth) if they are not recently "offshears", in order to provide the newborn lamb with a cleaner suckling area.
Compared to mulesing
Crutching is different to mulesing (tail skin removal), although they are closely related in that mulesed sheep require much less crutching. It is the long wool hanging over which gets most soiled from urination and faeces, and which can be particularly dirty due to green feeding, rapid changes in feed, or from diseases such as internal parasites.
Tools
Hand shears may be used, especially where an individual sheep is particularly dirty, or flystruck. Generally, whole flocks are treated together. Often a shearing plant is used, and the crutchers sit the sheep between their legs and effectively shear just the required portion of the sheep, leaving the main fleece to continue growing. There are also many varieties of crutching cradles which allow the sheep to be crutched with less physical strain to the operator.
External links
"Crutching"