'Powder Springs' GOAT Talent' ... for Eating Kudzu

We've hired this company to eat some of the kudzu near the new skate park. We traditionally spray these areas and come out with our mowers and bush haugers, but we decided to give this a try. Other cities have done it for some of their retention ponds and their parks out in Dunwoody and DeKalb County. So it's just an innovative approach to see about kudzu removal near one of our parks. This herd has 16 in it. Our large herds run anywhere from 15 to 20. And it just depends on what herd becomes available as far as what herd we bring to your job. It's an eco-friendly alternative to pesticides or herbicides being sprayed. So they will eat the kudzu back to the crown, which is what feeds the entire plant. When we do it, the goats digest 100% of it. They're a ruminant animal. They have four chambers to their stomach. So when it comes out, it's just kind of a powder and there's no valuable seeds left in it, so it doesn't spread. That's the better alternative than mowing it, because when you mow it everywhere, you split that vine and it becomes a new vine. The goats can do, depending on the vegetation, but they can do somewhere around an eighth of an acre a day of kudzu completely cleared. So, you know, we talk about vertical vegetation. So you're going to have a ground layer and then you have that vine that goes up. So, you know, it's kind of like having probably a half acre stacked on top of each other in this one set up here. But that's about what they can cover a day. It's about an eighth of an acre. The goats, they'll eat about 22 to 24 pounds of vegetation a day. And this area here, I would say, will be clean in three days, three to four days. We figure they'll be done on Monday. So they'll go up. As you can tell, there's some raised tree canopy type stuff in there. They'll go up and expose everything. So the goats will be on site until the job is finished. We come by every day to do a herd check and a health check. We'll fill up the water, check their their minerals. Goats don't need any kind of feed as far as grain, as long as they're on a good forage dot. And great for us and great for the goats. They'll be out here for two weeks, probably right up to the 13th, right before the skate park event. They are a big hit. It's funny. You have folks usually come out here and watch their kids skating and they're doing that. But they are now turning around and watching the goats just as much. We're excited to do this and excited for all the people of Powder Springs to get to see our goats in action.