Anyone using Goats for kudzu/brush control?

My friends & family think I'm losing it, but I feel like I'm in dire straits here.

The KUDZU is coming! ugh! I had never even heard of kudzu before moving down south last year and while it looks kind of cool when you first see it from the freeway, now that I've learned about it I **don't** want it on my property.

I have 3 acres, the back 2 of which are/were wooded. The prior owner, facing foreclosure & eviction, sold almost an acre of hardwoods before he left, leaving me a gaping hole behind the tree line he left just behind the house. That area is now overrun with brush and some kind of small tree that seems to be sprouting up all over, although I don't know what it is.

A few weeks ago, I saw kudzu at the end of the street, growing its way towards my property which really upsets me. I'm a serious tree lover and love nothing more than sitting in my yard swing, watching my huge oaks & elms, and listening to their leaves rustle in the breeze. I'm desparate to keep the kudzu out, but don't have the health to go out there and physically fight it, nor the fortitude to deal with the copperheads I know are out there. But I know if I don't do something it's going to destroy one of my favorite things in life.

I'm thinking about getting some goats to keep, both for out there and my yard. Is anyone doing this? I'm thinking about getting pygmy goats, but will they do the job? Because of my health, I don't want to have to keep anymore than 2 or 3 goats.

*Any* advice for keeping this kudzu off my property will be appreciated!!!

Thank you,
Cindy

Not knowing how much stuff you have to get rid of it's hard to say how many goats you would need for the job. The thing to realize though is that goats will eat everything, they're not just going to pick out the kudzu. So if there are desirable plants in there, they're at risk too (not big trees obviously, but any small things that are growing in there).

Out here there are people who rent out herds of goats to eat all the dry grasses and weeds on the hills to help keep the fire danger down. They generally have huge herds (hundreds of goats) and they confine them to a few acres at a time, but there the purpose is to get the job done quick, so if you have fewer goats it'll just take longer to get everything munched.

I lived in Fremont for about 12 yrs, so I know about the herds they started renting out after the Oakland fire. ;)

I need the goats to eat everything because that "hole" in my back 2 acres is overgrown with brush and some small trees that aren't anything I recognize. I haven't planted anything back there yet and would prefer to keep it cleared until I figure out what to do with it.

Cindy , I have heard of some people in my area using goats to keep kudzu and privet under control and considered it myself. I had the idea of buying some of those big metal fence panels that can be moved around, that way I can move the goats where I need them most. Can you post pictures of the trees you have sprouting up? South Carolina has many of the same invasives that Alabama does.

Hi Escambiaguy,
I posted this thread in the Carolina forum and got my answers over there. They ID'd the tree for me, too, as Poke Weed - not something I want hanging out back there. You can see the whole thread here - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/765038/

I've decided to get 2 Pygmy goats. My area isn't that huge, that it could support more on a long term basis, but I seriously have to keep the kudzu from getting to my trees.

Oh yes, I have my share of pokeweed. The birds love them, but they are a pain in the rear. lol