In Tennessee, Goats Eat the ‘Vine That Ate the South’ (a Kudzu Story)

[YankeyMCC]

(snip)
Chattanooga’s goats have become unofficial city mascots since the Public Works Department decided last year to let them roam a city-owned section of the ridge to nibble the kudzu, the fast-growing vine that throttles the Southern landscape.

The Missionary Ridge goats and the project’s tragicomic turns have created headlines, inspired a folk ballad and invoked more than their share of goat-themed chuckles.

“Usually, in dealing with this, you’ve got to get people past the laugh factor,” said Jerry Jeansonne, a city forestry inspector and the program’s self-described “goat dude.”

Despite the humorous overtones to the city’s methods, the program represents an environmentally friendly effort to grapple with a real problem in Chattanooga and the South.

Kudzu, which is native to Asia, was introduced in the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, according to the United States Forest Service. It arrived in the South several years later, becoming a popular ornamental vine, then a forage and erosion-control crop. In the Great Depression, the federal government paid farmers to plant it.

First called “the miracle vine,” kudzu eventually came to be known as “the vine that ate the South.” It grows at an astonishing rate of a foot a day, smothering flora, swallowing houses and blanketing the landscape.

Now embedded in the South, as well as in parts of Oklahoma, Texas and some Northern states, kudzu can be found on at least a million acres of federal forest land, and probably millions more acres of private land, said James H. Miller, a research ecologist for the Forest Service.
(snip)


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/us/05goats.html

[JCMach1]

1. Count me PRO-GOAT

[EstimatedProphet]

2. Deer and cows eat kudzu too

Most vegetarian animals will eat it, just not fast enough to keep it back.

[CottonBear]

4. Horses will eat it too. Kudzu mostly grows in wood snad on roadsides

which is not a good place for cattle and horses. Goats, however, are very adaptable to urban and wooded environments.

[EstimatedProphet]

8. What's "wood snad"?

[CottonBear]

12. Yikes! I meant to type wooded areas. I was interrupted by (*gasp*) work

and forget to spell check before posting. :blush:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. No way in hell it ISN'T something dirty. It SOUNDS dirty. -nt

[greendog]

3. In Montana, we have 550 sheep doing "weed control" in Missoula.

I saw this in the Missoula paper a couple days ago.

John Stahl, three dogs, a horse and a handful of human helpers herded a flock of 550 sheep and one goat from Mullan Road to Mount Jumbo on Sunday morning to the astonishment - and delight - of Missoula's city dwellers.
More:
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/06/04/news/top/news01.txt

[Courtesy Flush]

5. Seems like a good candidate for alternative fuel

Can't they make something useful out of kudzu? Other than goat meat, that is.

[liontamer]

6. probably any vegetable can be converted to biodiesel. But goat meat is useful too

:)

[Flaxbee]

7. I agree -- can't we somehow process it into

a paper alternative or something? Alternative to toilet paper, or paper towels, or something?

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Kudzu has been used to make both cloth and paper:

http://books.google.com/books?id=KMSpPFcli08C&printsec=toc&dq=kudzu+cloth

[Arkansas Granny]

9. For anyone who's interested, I've found some advice on growing kudzu.

Kudzu can be grown almost anywhere, so site selection is not the problem it is with some other finicky plants like strawberries. Although kudzu will grow quite well on cement, for best result you should select an area having at least some dirt. To avoid possible lawsuits, it is advisable to plant well away from your neighbors house, unless, of course, you don't get along well with your neighbor anyway.

Kudzu should always be planted at night. If kudzu is planted during daylight hours, angry neighbors might see you and begin throwing rocks at you.

The best fertilizer I have discovered for kudzu is 40 weight non-detergent motor oil. Kudzu actually doesn't need anything to help it grow, but the motor oil helps to prevent scraping the underside of the tender leaves when the kudzu starts its rapid growth. It also cuts down on the friction and lessens the danger of fire when the kudzu really starts to move. Change oil once every thousand feet or every two weeks which ever comes first.

more....

http://www.locksley.com/kudzu.htm

[eppur_se_muova]

11. "Drop the seeds and run." (Old joke) nt

[Shell Beau]

13. Kudzu is all over the place down here in MS.

It causes problems but it is really pretty (except when it is dead)!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. Thanks to Slashdot, I'll never be able to hear any mention of goats the same way

:cry: