WATCH: Sheep butt goats out of Cork graveyard post

Templebreedy church in Crosshaven came up with an ingenious, eco-friendly way to tackle overgrowth around headstones in St Matthews graveyard

The goats at Templebreedy have now been replaced by sheep to keep the grass growth under control in the graveyard

Templebreedy has done a ewe-turn on how it keeps its graveyard in ship-shape, with local sheep butting goats out of the post.

Last year, the Templebreedy Save our Steeple committee came up with an ingenious, eco-friendly way to tackle overgrowth around headstones at St Matthews graveyard.

Crosshaven councillor Audrey Buckley first mooted the idea of renting goats to clean up the graveyard, following a trip to the Gower in Wales.

The goats have been butted out of the post by local sheep. Picture: Larry Cummins

“I saw sheep roaming around the Gower and the place looked like a carpet,” she told C103’s Patricia Messinger.

After some research, Ms Buckley found  there were companies in the business of renting out sheep and goats to clean graveyards in the UK and US, and goats were an even better bet than the sheep.

Following her discovery, the group brought a team of goats in last May and they didn't do a baaaad job at all. 

"They were so successful that we actually couldn't get them back this year because there wasn't enough brush for their diet," Ms Buckley said. 

The goats were moved every eight to 10 days and kept in the graveyard with harris fencing supplied by Cork County Council, which was "really on board" with the idea. 

The Templebreedy Save our Steeple committee has registered over 400 headstones with the help of heritage.ie. Picture: Larry Cummins

"The goats unearthed a lot of headstones from the 1700s,” Ms Buckley said, adding that they hired heritage.ie to come in and help them to register all the headstones.

“We’ve registered over 400 headstones. The oldest headstone we found was from 1711.” 

The new temporary resident sheep have arrived for the summer. Picture: Larry Cummins

While the goats did the initial groundwork, Ms Buckley said they had now found a lot of families had started to maintain their own plots.

Now the sheep, on loan from a woman in Carrigaline, have been tasked with making sure the old graveyard remains in pristine condition.

"Unfortunately, they're getting too used to people," Ms Buckley said, "you can rub them now."

Locals are asked to help protect the guests who are "here to work" and ensure dogs are kept on a lead.