With kudzu infestations, we are not able to realize the productivity of land that could be producing timber but is not. Kudzu covers 7 million acres of land in the southeast and is spreading at a rate of 120,000 acres a year, Ezell said. In Mississippi, almost 250,000 acres are covered by kudzu. Control strategies exist for kudzu, but are costly and take a long time to be effective. But the battle against kudzu may have an ally in goats.
Goats like to eat kudzu, and Mississippi is experiencing rapid growth in the goat meat industry.
A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture study found that goats may provide an alternative to chemical or mechanical control of kudzu competing with pine trees. The goats are not pastured on kudzu, but keep it cleared when the vine grows into the area where they are held. Goats prefer to eat young trees, bushes and vines, including kudzu. But as a vine sending roots down at many points, it is difficult to harvest. If goats graze in a stand of kudzu long enough, they eventually should eliminate that kudzu by eating it down too often for the vine to survive, Byrd said.