Control of Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) through frequent harvesting and grazing

The production of meat, milk and fiber by angora goats in Alabama is influenced largely by the quality of the animal's feed intake. On the other hand, kudzu (Pueraria lobata), a warm-season pervasive legume weed found in timberlands of the southeast United States, provides an excellent feed source during the summer months for angora goats. In order to take advantage of this feed source and control the plant, it was proposed that angora goats be used to control this weed. A study was initiated to look at the effects of clipping frequency and grazing cycles on the control of kudzu. Plants were randomly selected in fields and assigned clipping cycles of 0, 2 ,4 and 6-week intervals. In order to determine the resilience of the kudzu plants, crude protein, mineral content and total fresh and dry weights were recorded during the spring, summer and fall periods. Results showed that as clipping frequency increased there was a corresponding increase in total dry matter accumulation. However, this yield increase was arrested after four harvests when kudzu plants were clipped every two weeks. Fifty percent of the plants harvested at 2-week intervals were killed prior to cessation of fall growth. Plants harvested at four and six week intervals continued to increase in dry matter. The remaining plants that were harvested every two weeks did not successfully over-winter but all plants harvested at 6 week intervals survived the winter. As would be expected, leaf crude protein content was higher than stem crude protein. However, the crude protein content tended to decrease with length of time between harvest. It would appear that harvesting kudzu every two weeks will result in some degree of control.