Grazing kudzu

[kenny thomas]

Had a guy call me today wanting me to buy him some calves to graze about 5 acres of Kudzu. I ask him how many and he said whatever I thought. Well, I could not give him an answer. Anybody grazing it? This area has not had cattle on it since 1985 so the kudzu has a good start. How many 500 lb calves per acre can graze it?

 

[agmantoo]

Is the purpose of grazing the Kudzu for the forage or for destroying the Kudzu? Kudzu can have up to 4 tons of growth/acre on established stands. If I wanted the Kudzu gone I would want to overgraze the stand and to do so will take a lot of 500lb calves eating 12 to 15 lb/day.. Hogs will also graze Kudzu and they are good to destroy the vines and some of the tubers. It took my herd 3 years to destroy nearly all of the Kudzu plants on ~3.5 acres at the beef farm by forcing them to clean the area each time before moving to better forage. I have an encroaching problem with Kudzu on a tree farm that I own out of state. The costs projected to clean the Kudzu up with herbicide is prohibitive, $100+ per acre and for 3 consecutive annual applications by helicopter. I have been considering clear cutting then fencing the acreage and providing the land free for someone to pasture because this approach is more justifiable.

 

[kenny thomas]

You just described the problem here. The area was planted to pine in 1986 and the kudzu has taken over at least 5 acres. The owner has now moved back and wants to rid the area of the kudzu. He has been spraying by hand with very little results as the kudzu goes into the treetops. He wants to graze it to death so the stocking rate will have to be high. Here kudzu can grow as much as a foot a day so I had no idea how many head to take him to get ahead of it. He does know it may take several years to kill it all.

 

[agmantoo]

What is the diameter of these pines at breast height? Have these trees ever been thinned?

 

[kenny thomas]

These are White Pine about 12-14"DBH and never thinned as they don't thin White Pine.

 

[agmantoo]

My error as I thought they were Loblolly. How much of the kudzu is covering the ground with that amount of shade? I would think most of the kudzu had vined and was in the trees at this time. The cattle will not kill the large vines that are growing up the trees IMO.

 

[kenny thomas]

The kudzu has killed the trees when they were smaller on about 4 acres and are climbing the trees along the edge. The purpose of the calves is to eat the area that is on the ground and open it up so the vines climbing the trees can be cut and the sprouts then controled by grazing. Does this make sense?

 

[upfrombottom]

The kudzu has killed the trees when they were smaller on about 4 acres and are climbing the trees along the edge. The purpose of the calves is to eat the area that is on the ground and open it up so the vines climbing the trees can be cut and the sprouts then controled by grazing. Does this make sense?

Absolutely. Pen up some goats in there and they will nearly climb the trees and eat it.

 

[agmantoo]

Earlier when I thought the trees were loblolly pines that was the reason I asked about the diameter. I was at that time going to suggest the trees be thinned so that you could get to the vines that are climbing the trees. Rather than using 500 lb calves I would buy cows that had been mismanaged as they would eat as much as two heifers and be cheaper to purchase.
Come Winter when the kudzu goes dormant and the leaves fall you could sell the cows back to the market and maybe make a few dollars and then start again next Spring.

 

[kenny thomas]

My thoughts also but I am buying for someone so I buy what he wants. I will try to talk him into the cows but cows here are pretty high right now.

 

[kenny thomas]

Update, I talked him into letting a next door neighbor turn his cows into the kudzu for this year. I agree they should do a better job killing it.

 

[agmantoo]

If you would keep us updated on how this goes I certainly will appreciate the information. I went to the site where I have the kudzu problem today and it is worse than I remembered. I have roughly 11 acres that have been invaded by the plant. This land was bought cheap and I do intend to plant the entire parcel in trees, possibly this Fall for the portion that does not have kudzu. I am temporarily on hold by the forestry dept awaiting their inputs. My thoughts at this time are to pasture the kudzu acreage. The land is flat and would be easy to fence except for the infestation. A dozer could clear the perimeter rather quickly and I could offset the fence from the property line on the side where the kudzu accessed what is now my property from the neighbor's side. I feel that I could maintain the lane separating the two properties and keep the lane sprayed using my equipment. Within 3 years I strongly believe my side will be free of kudzu if I am vigilant. The next issue is how to get water for the animals.

 

[kenny thomas]

My question is how long he will have to run the cows on to completly kill it. As you know if you don't control it all it will come back quickly. I do know that one year does not have much effect on it as I grazed about an acre of it one year and as soon as I took the cows off it came back just as strong.
agmantoo, have you looked at any chemical control? I don't remember what we tried a few years ago but we knocked it back and then it came back strong.

 

[agmantoo]

Kenny, chemical control was quoted at three application by helicopter at $100plus per acre for each application and for not less than 10 acres. Tree planting would be delayed till 2011-2012 season.

When I grazed off what was the gully area that I had on the current cattle farm it took 3 years until I no longer observed any sprouting. The area became part of my normal grazing and it is possible that the cattle may have eaten any sprouts that may have emerged afterward without my witnessing such.

 

[kenny thomas]

agmantoo, he would probably pay for the spraying but it is not available here. Since we are out of the loblolly belt there is no helicopter spraying here.
Thanks for the advice. He will be grazing for several years and I expect him to keep it as a small pasture as all of his other acerage is planted to pine or has some good hardwood timber.