New kudzu fighting goats
photo by Betsy Bramlett
The kudzu goats are back on Missionary Ridge, but this time they're chomping on the eastern slope of the McCallie Tunnel in Chattanooga with a more than healthy appetite for the invasive vine.
"They're hungry for something green to eat," said Stephen Surowitz of Bar S Farms, the Petersburg, Tn., company contracted by the city's Public Works Department.
"The drought has been bad, and so this is Utopia for them," he said.
Thirty goats are now on the slope, joined by "Goliath," a Great Pyrenees dog long ago bred particularly for the work of guarding goats and sheep against predators such as dogs, coyotes, bears and wolves.
"A Great Pyrenees has been known to take out a whole pack of coyotes," Mr. Surowitz said.
According to Mr. Surowitz, "Goliath" knows his job, and he's not a guardian who takes his duties lightly either.
"He's going to be protecting his 'family.' That's what he lives for."
In the initial phase of kudzu control, the city hired Lakesite farmer Maurice Beavers, who placed goats on the western slope of the Ridge. It was a project that public works officials praised as a resounding success. However, security for the goats was lacking.
Even though there was an electric fence, a neighbor's dogs got past it and mauled three goats. The donkeys inside the enclosure for the purpose of protection "were just as scared as the goats" Mr. Beavers said at the time. He said, "They're good with coyotes, but that's it."
He then brought in llamas, but "they couldn't be in all places at once," when other dogs on Sept. 14 invaded the fenced-in area, terrorizing the goats to the point that 20 of them broke through or hopped over the fence and began running loose on North and South Crest Roads.
Animal control officers, police and public works officials spent the night trying to corral the goats, which were creating traffic hazards.
Before Mr. Beavers could later round up the entire herd, dogs had claimed approximately five more victims.
"It was just awful," said Judy Montague, who lives across the street from the project. "I could hear the goats crying and screaming. I threw rocks at one dog while it was killing a goat, and I felt helpless."
Mr. Surowitz is confident that the new fencing that he's putting in place and the presence of the Great Pyrenees should alleviate concerns about the goats' safety.
He is using an electrical mesh wire that he learned about during a Goat Browsing Academy held earlier this year at Greenway Farm in Hixson.
"It's very advanced, and the electrical shock goes from the top to the bottom, so it'll stop predators in their tracks. It'll keep the goats in, too," he said.
Ms. Montague has her fingers crossed that it will work.
"I've always been in favor of the goats getting rid of the kudzu, but not at the expense of animals that can't protect themselves or be protected and end up brutally slaughtered."