Crutching

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Crutching refers to the removal of wool from around the tail and between the back legs of sheep. It may also refer to the removal of wool from the sheep's head ( wigging ) or from the bottom of the ram (mulesing)

Video Crutching

Motivation

Through centuries of selective breeding, most recently through artificial insemination, domestic sheep have denser and longer wool from their wild ancestors, which may require human intervention to be nurtured. Sheep with thick woolen feathers often develop stains or dags on their rear ends of faeces. In the parent, urine can also contaminate wool. To avoid discomfort in sheep and to damage sheep's wool, sheep breeders remove wool (and any dags) from sheep.

Feces of urine and water from feeding the spring grass can also cause myiasis (flying-strike), which occurs when flies lay in warm wool, wet and fly larvae grow and eat the sheep. Crutching is an effective way to help prevent this; in some areas, crutches are carried out at the start of the fly season (which depends on local climatic conditions) and may be required at 6-8 weeks intervals under high flies risk conditions.

Rams and wethers can also be cracked (crutched) on the abdomen around the pizzle (penis) to prevent flying-strike there.

Wigging (removal of wool from sheep's head) is done to prevent sheep into "blind wool", where wool covers the eyes of the sheep. It also prevents the accumulation of grass seeds and burrs in wool around the head as sheep graze. Both of these problems are more severe in breeds with heavy wool growths such as Merinos.

In addition, female mothers are generally steamed before their offspring if they are not "offshears" (recently shaved), to provide newborn sheep with a cleaner breastfeeding area.

Maps Crutching

Procedures

Crutching is generally done in shear sheds, using shearers and the same tools as for cutting the entire fleece, because crutching only cuts a portion of the animal. The scissor knife can be used, especially where individual sheep are very dirty, or fly flies. Generally, the whole group is treated together. A mechanical slide handpiece is used, and the krukers sit the sheep between their legs and cut the required parts of the sheep, leaving the main sheep to continue growing. There are also many cradle crutching types that allow sheep to be crutched with less physical strains to the operator.

For small herds, grazier might do the job alone. For large herds and male sheep, sheep breeders will employ shearers, or use contractors that provide professional grinding teams to do the required work. The grazier will decide on the extent of the crutching: the back of the sheep is almost always shaved, while the wool around the face, ears, bottom and pizzle can also be removed depending on circumstances such as weather, wool sheep, and the amount of seed or other dirt present in the fur sheep and grounds underlying crutches (preventing fly attacks, or to reduce the chance of stains on feather wool). Super fine Merino wool is often given light crutches, known as New England crutches that remove less than precious sheepskin.

When one or a small number of sheep need crutching, sheep breeders will often work in paddocks using dagging (or knife) scissors or portable powered slags instead of pushing sheep into sliding cages and backs.

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Related procedures

Lifting (removing) sheep has many of the same benefits for sheep as crutching. Although this procedure reduces the maintenance required to keep the wool clean, regular support is still required for the reasons described above.

Crutching is different from mulesing where the wrinkled skin is removed, although they are closely related in mulesed sheep that require less crutching. This is the dirtiest of wool from urine and dirt, and which can be very dirty because it feeds green, rapid changes in feed, or from problems like internal parasites.

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See also

• Shearer sheep
• Sheep shearing

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References

• Cottle, D.J. (1991). Australian Sheep and Wool Handbook. Melbourne, Australia: Inkata Press, 20-23. ISBNÃ, 0-909605-60-2.

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External links

• The Australian Government website that includes Basic sheep management including crutching
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website on sheep support.

Source of the article : Wikipedia