City seeks goats for hire to eradicate kudzu
♦ The invasive vines have taken over much of the area on the Kingfisher Trail near Silver Creek.
Rome is looking for a few good goats. Hungry goats to be specific, with experience on uneven rocky soil. The kind of stuff kudzu thrives in.
City manager Sammy Rich and Public Works Director Chris Jenkins have confirmed that they are considering goat labor to eradicate the kudzu that has almost overtaken the Kingfisher Trail along Silver Creek.
“We’re looking into getting some quotes from goat herders to basically come in on the Kingfisher Trail to clear out the kudzu,” Jenkins said.
The goat herder would bring them out for the day and they’d be electronically contained within a fence. After they’re through with their work, he’ll herd them up and bring them back again the next day — depending on how it takes for them to clear the vegetation.”
Jenkins hopes this can be accomplished within the next 30 days.
Public works personnel did as much cutting as they could along the trail before resorting to the goat option. A four to five foot wide swath on either side of the trail has been trimmed, but the kudzu runs thick up every ridge toward Mount Aventine and down every slope toward Silver Creek and the Etowah River.
The steep slopes leading up to Cantrell Street and down toward the water are dangerous for both his staff and their equipment, Jenkins said, but no problem at all for a sure-footed goat.
University of Georgia Extension Agent Keith Mickler said goats will be able to eat the kudzu, and just about everything else — privet included — right down to the root. But it will eventually grow back again.
“It is a good, environmentally sensitive way to clear the land,” Mickler said.
“I’m very intrigued by this,” Rich said.
He’s read in numerous municipal publications about how goats have been brought in to deal with environmentally sensitive areas. Brunswick on the Georgia coast has brought in 34 goats to do the kind of work that city personnel find particularly challenging — like clearing thick swaths of poison ivy.
“I asked Chris to look and see what might be available. To be able to get in and do the clearing without disturbing the soil would be ideal,” Rich said. “I think we’ve got some old laws on the books that you can’t run your goats across the Fifth Avenue Bridge so inevitably there are some things we have to look at.”
He said it may come down to definitions related to keeping animals versus them working as they pass through.
“This all has to be fully researched and decided upon,” Rich said.
As strange as it might sound, there are entrepreneurs out there who operate these types of businesses. Red Wagon Goats, out of the Decatur area, rents out goats for purposes such as the Kingfisher kudzu and actually has a wait list for the work. Another firm in the area that specializes in “goatscaping” is Glitzy Goats of Acworth.
“To be able to get in and do the clearing without disturbing the soil would be ideal. I think we’ve got some old laws on the books that you can’t run your goats across the Fifth Avenue Bridge so inevitably there are some things we have to look at. Sammy Rich, Rome city manager