Kudzu for feed-redux

My grandpa planted it years ago and his goats killed it. They even dug up the roots and ate them.

I think what would work is fencing your goats off of it with cattle panels. So as it grows out they eat it so it never goes anywhere. But the fencing keeps the goats from killing it.

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This is basically what we have done. We planted it in the kiddie pools and put fencing around the pool. The goats can get at the vines without killing the roots. Works well for us.

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Its just a cautionary tale, if it isnt illegal in your area and can grow there, you will not be popular. Kudzu is bad stuff and not endemic to this country so if you care about the ecology of your area it would seem a very bad idea. Lots of us have had to deal with Kudzu and just offer our experience since you asked.

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There is thinking outside the box and then there is wishful fantasy. Not all that much distance between the two. People have been living in the desert and raising livestock there for millenium. The ones that succeed adapt to the desert, not try and adapt the desert to them.

Need more animal fodder in the desert? Burn the spines off of cactus and train your animals to eat it. I know somebody who took a good size herd of cattle though a drought that way. Using a resource that was already there in abundance and not changing/endangering the native environment. It got a little old going out at sunrise every day for months on end to singe enough cholla for the cows to eat that day, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

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Not to highjack, but I already have a kudzu issue. Im hoping to get some goats within the next year or so, however the kudzu is in an area that would be off limits to them. Could it be "harvested" and fed to them as a main part of their feed to go along with their browse? I'd be trying to cut down on feed cost as much as possible

I do this with Oak all the time, and I know a goat lady in East Texas who harvests kudzu for her goats.

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Yes!
Kudzu is a very nutritious legume. That's why it's been introduced so many places it shouldn't have been.

There's basically two parts of kudzu.

There's the roots (useful below-ground starchy roots if you can use them, but they DO grow underground, and not much will follow them down and kill them out, particularly if there's green growth as an alternative choice.

Then there's all the rest - vines and leaves and flowers and pods and what-all. You can cut that off at ground level, then cart trailer-loads to feed your goats (or cows, or even horses) elsewhere. Make sure you don't carry to much, and have it provided its own compost to grow new plants in. People can use the young leaves and flowers as salad, and make a jelly from the flowers.

Cutting all-the-rest won't kill the plant - you need to also kill the roots. That's one reason why glyphosate (Round-Up) doesn't give consistent results.

Dusky,

We have a small homestead SW of Phoenix too, in Laveen. Nothing against these guys in this thread but most the people in this thread had no idea how different of a enviroment we have here in phoenix. Im sure your using flood irragation like we all do, would see simple to me to be able to cut water too it and control. Ive often thought of using kudzu myself.

So there are no animals who will carry off the pods to spread it elsewhere? No river or creeks to be overrun? No irrigated alfalfa circles with weedy borders? Watered golf courses?
I admit that I can't see it overrunning acres in the desert but I can see it becoming another weed plant in those places that provide water- if the soil allows it to grow.

When kudzu was first brought in into US it was believed that since it was fast growing, it would be great as fodder plant. It turned out that Kudzu does not handle repeated razing well. If you have it on your property than yes, use it and feed it to your animals but do not plant it, you will be disapointed. If you notice it only grows in abandoned areas.

Yelp illegal to plant.

big rockpile

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Yes, you can actually dry the vines for winter feed.

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Because of Kudzu’s reputation as a biotic invader, AZ Dept. of Agriculture personnel initiated an eradication process when identification was completed. This control measure is based on a new herbicide from Dow AgroSciences called Milestone VM.
Vince Aguiar, Dow’s range and pasture vegetation specialist for Arizona provided weed management expertise for eradication treatments that began in November 2006.
Milestone was applied to the Huachuca City Kudzu at a rate of 7 oz. per acre. This application was repeated in March and June 2007. Visual estimates in August 2007 indicated >97 percent of Kudzu biomass died as a result of those three treatments (see photos provided by Arizona Dept. of Agriculture).
Even though the Kudzu infestation appears to be controlled, treatments are planned for 2008 to complete eradication and will continue until new shoots cease to emerge; then occasional monitoring is needed to insure none of the underground root reserves survive and clone new Kudzu plants.





Invasive Species Weblog


Good luck and if we don't hear from you next year, we will know that Kudzu has overgrown your house and your power lines and you will not be found.

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