Cemeteries Go Green with Goats
Mount Pleasant Group Marks 200 Years with Eco-Friendly Land Care Featuring Goats and Bee Hives
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To mark its 200th anniversary, Mount Pleasant Group (MPG) has deployed a herd of roughly 20 goats to graze natural burial sections at two Ontario cemeteries — Meadowvale in Brampton and Duffin Meadows in Pickering — beginning June 18. County Market reports the initiative is part of a broader push to maintain the company's historic properties using lower-impact methods suited to the next two centuries of operation.
Alongside the grazing program, MPG has installed bee hives at four sites across the Greater Toronto Area. Together, the two programs signal a clear turn away from gas-powered machinery and chemical herbicides for one of Ontario's largest private landowners, which manages more than 1,200 acres of land.
How the Goat Grazing Program Actually Works
MPG partnered with Goats in the City, a Canadian firm that provides goat-powered vegetation management. The goats graze inside fenced areas for two days at each cemetery site this spring. They will return for another two days in the fall to prepare the soil for winter. A trained eco-shepherd supervises the herd around the clock, The Observer reports.
The goats target invasive plants like buckthorn and garlic mustard. Crucially, they eat the seeds of those plants, making the seeds infertile — something a mower blade cannot do. Traditional mowers are also too heavy for natural burial sections, where they compact soil and damage native wildflowers planted to attract pollinators.
Why Goats Beat Gas Mowers for Soil Health
Standard commercial mowers produce an estimated 40 to 60 pounds of CO2 to cover the same area the goats graze at zero emissions. Goats also return nutrients directly to the soil through manure, improving long-term soil health in a way no machine can match. Edmonton Sun notes MPG frames this shift as a change in "operational philosophy," not a one-off stunt.
Conservation biologist Dr. Elena Rossi told CBC News that "using goats is scientifically superior to mowing for biodiversity." Rossi added that nutrient cycling through manure happens immediately, giving the soil a direct and natural boost. Families who chose natural burials have welcomed the approach. One told reporters that goats maintaining the meadow felt "much more aligned" with a loved one's values than a noisy gas mower.
Bee Hives Installed at Four GTA Cemetery Sites
MPG added bee hives at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, Elgin Mills in Richmond Hill, Meadowvale in Brampton, and Duffin Meadows in Pickering. The hives are designed to stabilize local pollinator populations. Because these cemeteries sit near residential gardens, the hives also act as pollination hubs for surrounding urban green spaces, Chatham Daily News reports.
The hives may also produce "cemetery honey" that MPG could sell or gift to visitors, creating a small circular economy on-site. Urban planners have pointed to both the bee and goat programs as turning cemeteries into "stepping stone" habitats — green corridors that help wildlife move through the otherwise concrete-heavy GTA.
A 200-Year-Old Institution Eyes the Next 200 Years
MPG traces its roots to 1826, when it was founded as the Toronto General Burying Grounds to serve as a non-denominational cemetery. Its 200th anniversary year began in January 2026 with a series of legacy projects focused on environmental stewardship. President and CEO Glenn McCloskey said the milestone is about "ensuring the land we manage remains vibrant and healthy for the next 200 years," according to The Recorder.
If the 2026 pilot succeeds, MPG has signaled it may expand the goat program to older, hilly terrain where mowers are too dangerous to operate safely. That would potentially make MPG the largest private user of prescribed grazing in Ontario. The organization currently manages over 1,200 acres across the GTA, leaving plenty of room to grow the program well beyond its two current sites.
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