BELMONT, N.C. – Belmont's Catawba Lands Conservancy Seven Oaks Preserve has some four-legged guests feeding for a good cause!

  • Goats are eating kudzu in Belmont.
  • The kudzu is becoming a nuisance. 
  • Once the kudzu is gone, native plants can be planted.

A herd of fifty goats is eating an invasive vine that's become a nuisance.

The goats graze on kudzu, which is known to take over native trees. Some of the vines have even spilled over into walking paths and could clog machinery if left unnoticed.

 “It's a first step for us to get the vegetation down to the ground so we can actually get in here and do some manual labor,” biologist Sean Bloom says. "If we didn't utilize goats, and we just had people and equipment out here, it would probably take $1000, $1500 dollars a day."

A grant from Duke Energy and the Catawba-Wateree Habitat Enhancement Program covers the costs for the goats.

“Once [kudzu] is removed, we're able to come back in and plant wildflowers which support pollinators like the monarch butterfly,” Bloom says. 

You can view the goats out in the conservancy for the next two weeks.

Conservancy officials say visitors should not feed the herd because they live behind an electric fence.

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