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Glite Dictionary
🤝 Relying for support 🦯 Walking with crutches 🐑 Sheep wool removal
crutching

crutching

9.9
Removing wool from a sheep's tail and hind legs to keep it clean
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : recorte de lana
  • Before lambing season, the workers completed crutching to ensure the ewes were clean.

Examples

  • The farmer performed crutching on the flock to help prevent fly infestations during the summer.

  • Regular crutching is important for the health and cleanliness of sheep.

  • What is crutching?

  • She is an expert in crutching sheep to prevent flystrike.

  • During crutching, farmers carefully shear the wool to prevent flystrike and keep the sheep clean.

  • The process of crutching is essential to ensure the health and hygiene of sheep before the summer months.

  • Crutching helps maintain hygiene for sheep by removing wool from around their tails and hind legs.

How Thorough

shearing
7 3.2
crutching
  • UK
9.9
trimming
8 2.3

Surface Forms

crutching singular
crutchings plural

Morphology

crutching = crutch (semi-transparent) = crutch + ing

Formally a regular -ing noun from the shepherding verb 'crutch', but the specialized shearing meaning is technical and not inferable from the common 'support' sense.

Etymology

Crutching in farming is a useful word to remember by thinking of the crutch area, the small space 'between the legs' of a sheep that must be kept clean; farmers cut the wool there to stop dirt and flies. So crutching is the act of removing wool around the tail and hind legs to keep sheep healthy.