Chattanooga using goats to fight kudzu

AP ^ | 8/20/6

[SmithL]

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - Chattanooga city officials say they plan to use a herd of goats as a more environmentally friendly way of curbing the invasive weed kudzu.

Maurice Beavers, who owns a goat farm in Lakesite, will provide the city with 30 to 50 goats for about $1,800 a month to eat the kudzu starting in September, said Public Works Deputy Administrator Lee Norris.

"Goats like kudzu. The only way you can kill kudzu is eat it back to where the root comes from," said Norris, adding that the goats are an environmentally friendly way to deal with the weed with little cleanup.

Kudzu _ a vine native to Japan and China introduced to the U.S. in the late 1800s as a forage crop and ornamental plant _ can grow up to a foot a day. Cities, especially in the Southeast where the weed thrives, have spent millions of dollars trying to curb it.

The goats will eat kudzu on 3.4 acres of steep slope around the Missionary Ridge tunnels because previous attempts to keep the weed away from tunnel entrances with chemicals have been unsuccessful, Norris said.

The goats will eat kudzu every day for about two months, and if successful, they will be brought back next year from April to October.

Bob Graham, vice president of the Missionary Ridge Neighborhood Association, called the idea an "odd solution."

He said having the goats around should not be much of a problem as long as they don't distract drivers going through the tunnel.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, we sold the house in 1994, so I have absolutely no idea what's going on over there now. Hopefully there's not just a large green mound where our house used to be . . .

The fellow who bought the house asked me if the neighbors would mind a pottery kiln in the back yard. I laughed and said, "Look, you've got two neighbors with goats (Leona on one side and Billy on the other), another neighbor with a one-acre victory garden, another who's chicken wired in the entire back yard for fighting cocks, and that doesn't count the guys with cars up on blocks and crankshaft mailbox posts. Nobody will notice!"

Last time I went by there he had TWO kilns!

[AnAmericanMother]

Goat poop is much easier to handle than the cow or horse variety. Nice little easy-to-dispose-of pellets.

When we had our goat-in-residence, I didn't even bother to clean up after her. It wasn't enough to worry about (of course I'm used to horses, in the course of almost 50 years I've probably shoveled enough of THAT stuff to fill a high school football stadium.)

[Lady Jag]

Kudzu ate the farm!

[bert]

....Nice little easy-to-dispose-of pellets.....

I know, but think on that. Consider the volume of Kudzu, there are literally cubic miles of the stuff.

[kittymyrib]

Alton Brown, the Foot Network guru, said that kudzu was introduced at one of the world's fairs that was held in the US and people took samples of the very decorative vine from the Japanese exhibit. It froze in northern climes, but loved the South! All parts of the kudzu are edible and it's high in vitamin C, so those goats shouldn't catch any colds this winter.

[Tax-chick]

Sounds like an interesting neighborhood, especially the fighting cocks. Arriba!

[AnAmericanMother]

But this wasn't a Latino -- this was a good old country boy.

Cockfighting never did die out in the rural South, you can still find a main if you know where to look.

I had a process server once who served a witness for me at a cockfight.

It was a VERY interesting neighborhood when we moved in. . . . it was smack in the middle of northwest downtown Atlanta, but it was the old mill community for a big sheet metal plant nearby, and some of the residents hadn't ever left. We bought a lady's back cow pasture and built our house in the middle of it. We always had good relations with our neighbors, but we've never minded country folks -- my father's ancestors were all Alabama dirt farmers.

I hear that the area's become fashionable and gone all upscale on us. The last of the old mill community must be just about gone by now -- they were all in their sixties or older when we lived there 12 years ago.

[AnAmericanMother]

But consider that most of what goats eat goes to all that energy for jumping around, climbing on fences and car roofs, chasing cats, and harassing dogs. Only a very small amount passes completely through the goat.

(Leona was a sweet nanny goat, but when she was in residence she nearly drove us nuts. They are VERY active creatures.)

[freedom1st]

You got to be a Frank Zappa fan.

[csvset]

Mispent youth.

[aomagrat]

Agent Orange not working?

[RockyTop4GOP]

I'll be moving to Chattanooga soon. Congrats! You'll love the Scenic City. I grew up in Chattanooga and just moved away about six weeks ago. I miss it tremendously! Freepmail if you need any help.

Actually, kudzu is a pretty big problem. There are areas where acres and acres have been claimed by kudzo, and goats are about the only way to control it. It creates costly problems when it starts growing under roads and around tunnels, as it is near Missionary Ridge. However, the current mayor and his staff are completely incompetent, so undoubtedly a practical solution like this will lead to massive issues for the city.

The climate and weather patterns of the Southeast is extremely similar to that of China. Hence why kudzu took off so well when introduced in the late 19th century.