On Farm Services for all your crutching needs

Portable yards are being used - the lambs are being drenched in the lead up race to the trailer, the clean lambs are being drafted off and the ewes and dirty lambs are being crutched.

Bruce Hutchin has been running his On Farm Services crutching business in the Tararua and Central Hawke's Bay for more than two years and has built up a good base of clientele. With his specialised Hecton Crutching Trailer his service is quick and efficient.

He makes these points:

All the controls are at Bruce's fingertips.

■ The advantage of using a crutching trailer is that the sheep can be done wet and full, so crutching is not weather dependent. The sheep can be run in straight from the paddock that morning, no need to empty them out over the night before, great for In-lamb ewes.

■ The set-up of the Hecton crutching trailer allows Bruce to do bellies as well as dags.

■ Crutching for the prevention of fly-strike is important in the warmer months, especially if the sheep have dags present.

■ Satellite or temporary yards where there is no power is no problem for Bruce as he has a petrol-powered compressor and generator.

■ Some clients are now using the opportunity of having the crutching trailer on farm and are drenching at the front of the trailer, while the sheep is with the handler getting crutched. Some farmers have also been vaccinating or drenching the sheep in the ramp or a lead up race at the back. This saves the farmer valuable time by not having to handle the sheep two or three times. Bruce will accommodate whatever the farmer's requirements are.

■ Farmers are becoming more aware as to how convenient it is to use a crutching trailer and how much less stressful it is on the sheep, especially at pre-lamb.

■ Also for the farmer's convenience I have a couple of handy yard dogs I can bring along to help make the job easier.

Bruce offers a service of reliability, hard work and quality.

Contact Bruce on 027 848 3224