MARYVILLE, Tenn. — These campus visitors arrived hungry. They'll leave having cleared the stately grounds of a pesky plant, the notorious Vine That Ate the South.
Maryville College is using goats to get rid of an invasion of the hated kudzu.
The private college campus has a wealth of trees, almost forest, especially on the southern part. Recently it's seen kudzu starting to coil, climb and creep in.
Sounds like a job for animals with a hearty appetite.
Experts at the college said the plant overtakes native plants, stealing all the sunlight and choking everything around it. In some countries it's known as the "foot a night" plant because of how swiftly it grows.
"We should have a lot of Virginia creeper, a great pollinator here on the edge of the woods, but that's being out-competed by the kudzu. So what we are trying to do is get rid of this invasive exotic to make room for the native plants," said Dr. Drew Crain, biology professor at MC.
This is just step one.
The college plans to stage multiple grazings until the goats are able to completely get rid of the kudzu.
Bon appetit.
