Is crutching a healthy practice? The main reason to carry out crutching is to prevent the risks of fly-strike. As you know, flies feed off the sheep leading to a nasty condition. During shearing, crutching is a beneficial practice.

But what is exactly crutching? The procedure removes clumps of stained wool (called dags) from the rear end of sheep. Due to dags, the cases of inflammation are not uncommon. Sometimes new-born sheep suck on dags instead of teats.