Crutching refers to the removal of

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

from around the tail and between the rear legs of a

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

for hygiene purposes. It can also refer to removing wool from the heads of sheep (''wigging'' or ''eye-wooling''). It does not refer to the process of

mulesing Mulesing is the removal of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep to prevent the parasitic infection flystrike (myiasis). The wool around the buttocks can retain feces and urine, which attracts flies. The scar t ...

a controversial procedure that involves removing of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep.

Motivation

Through centuries of selective breeding, most recently through

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

, domestic sheep have denser and longer wool than their wild forebears, which may require human intervention to maintain. Sheep with heavy fleeces of wool often develop stains or dags on their rear ends from

faeces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...

. In ewes, urine can also stain the wool. To avoid discomfort to the sheep and damage to the fleece, graziers remove the wool (and any dags) from the sheep. Urine and watery faeces from eating spring grass can also lead to

myiasis Myiasis ( ), also known as flystrike or fly strike, is the parasitic infestation of the body of a live animal by fly larvae (maggots) that grow inside the host while feeding on its Biological tissue, tissue. Although flies are most commonly attr ...

(fly-strike), which occurs when

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

lay eggs in warm, damp wool and the fly

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e grow and eat into the sheep. Crutching is an effective way to help prevent this; in some areas, 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. Rams and wethers may also be rung (crutched) on the belly around the

pizzle Pizzle is a Middle English word for penis, derived from Low German or Flemish Dutch , diminutive of the Dutch language , meaning 'sinew'. The word is used today to signify the penis of an animal, chiefly in Australia and New Zealand. The wo ...

(genitals) to prevent fly-strike there. Wigging (removal of wool from the head of sheep) is carried out to prevent the sheep from becoming "wool blind", in which the wool covers the sheep's eyes. It also prevents accumulation of grass seeds and burrs in wool around the head as a sheep grazes. Both these problems are more severe in breeds with heavy wool growth such as

Merino The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...

s. In addition, ewes are generally crutched prior to

lambing Domesticated sheep are herd animals that are bred for agricultural trade. A flock of sheep is mated by a single ram, which has either been chosen by a farmer or, in feral populations, has established dominance through physical contests with othe ...

if they are not "offshears" (recently shorn), in order to provide the newborn lamb with a cleaner suckling area.

Procedure

Crutching is generally carried out in

shearing shed Shearing sheds (or wool sheds) are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities. In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds a ...

s, using shearers and the same tools as for shearing the entire fleece, as crutching is simply shearing only a portion of the animal.

Blade shears Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (depending upon dialect, a sheep may be sai ...

may be used, especially where an individual sheep is particularly dirty, or flystruck. Generally, whole flocks are treated together. A mechanical shearing handpiece is used, and the graziers sit the sheep between their legs and shear 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. For small flocks, a grazier might do the work single-handedly. For large flocks and stud sheep, graziers will hire shearers, or use a contractor who provides professional shearing teams to do the required work. The grazier would decide on the extent of crutching: the rear of the sheep is almost always shorn, whereas wool around the face, ears, underside and pizzle may also be removed depending on the circumstances such as the weather, length of fleece, and amount of seed or other impurities present in the fleece and the underlying reason for crutching (preventive of fly-strike, or to reduce the likelihood of stain in the fleece wool).Australian Wool Corporation, ''Australian Wool Classing'', Raw Wool Services, 1990 Super fine wool Merino flocks are often given a light crutch, known as a New England crutch that removes less of the valuable fleece. When a single or small number of sheep need crutching, graziers will often work in the paddock using dagging (or blade) shears or portable powered shearing gear instead of driving the sheep into the shearing shed and back.

Related procedures

Docking (removing) sheep's tails has much the same benefits for the sheep as crutching. While this procedure may reduce the care needed to keep wool clean, regular crutching may still required for the reasons outlined above. Crutching is different to

where part of the wrinkled skin is removed, although they are closely related in that mulesed sheep require much less crutching. It is the excess wool which gets most soiled from

urination Urination is the release of urine from the bladder through the urethra in Placentalia, placental mammals, or through the cloaca in other vertebrates. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, v ...

and faeces, and which can be perceived to be particularly dirty due to green feeding, rapid changes in feed, or from problems such as internal

parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Basic management of pet sheep
from the Australian Government (Webarchive)

information at the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

Sheep

Motivation

Procedure

Related procedures

See also

References

External links