Fighting America’s Invasive Plants: Eco-Goats to the Rescue

Invasive species have long been dealt with using a mixture of powerful chemicals and earth movers. But a new weapon has proven more powerful — the goat.

Brian Knox’s herd of Eco Goats have been clearing hundreds of acres of invasive species, like kudzu, multiflora rose and bittersweet, up and down America’s  East Coast, more efficiently and effectively than previous methods. They also enjoy eating plants like poison ivy.

”We started using them around this property on some invasive species,” Knox told the BBC. “It worked really well, and things grew organically from there.”

One of the reasons goats are so effective is that the plant seeds rarely survive the grinding motion of their mouths and their multi-chambered stomachs. Other techniques leave seeds in the soil to spring back.

(READ the full story from the BBC)

Photo credit: Kabsik Park (CC license)