The sheep that graze these hills are part of that landscape. They are suited to mountain conditions and are carefully managed throughout the year by people who understand the land, the weather and the behaviour of the flock. Traditionally these sheep were predominantly Wicklow Cheviot. However in recent years about 5% of the sheep are variations of Lanark and Swale blackface types.

We graze our sheep up here in a communal fashion together with other farmers. Our sheep mix with the different flockowners’ sheep, as they roam around an area grazing and foraging. On our part of the mountain which runs from the Glenmalure Valley up over the ridges and tops to the Glendalough Valley and the Upper Lake in Glendalough is roughly an area of approximately 3000acres. at various intervals during the year we gather as a co-operative unit to do various tasks with the sheep such as shearing, scanning or weaning of lambs. It is vital for each flock owner to be able to identify his own sheep and we will sort them in our handling pens on the mountian. there, we can divide them in the sheeprace with the ‘quilling gates’