Daniel Busse

I will be getting St. Croix sheep.  They are a very hardy hair sheep and from the research I have done, they should eat the kudzu.  As far as getting rid of or controlling kudzu, I have had some success.  If you keep it mowed down you can keep it under control.  Then to get rid of it, you can chop out the crown of the vine which is just below the surface of the soil.  It is the clump that all the vines grow out of.  If you get that clump or crown cut out it will not grow back.  If the vine has been growing for some time there is a tuber that grows below the crown.  You don't have to get that out.  It will die.  Also, if you get out new plants as they are trying to start, by digging them out below the surface of the soil, they will not come back.  It is easy to stop the new plants.  It is the bigger old vines that are a lot harder to get out and stop.  They can be really tough and hard to dig that crown out.  The vines that come out of that main clump have also put down roots at intervals from the main clump, and they are in the process of making their own crown.  So, if they are allowed to grow for a while, there will be crowns everywhere, and every other plant will be choked out.  If you mow it every other week you can keep it controlled, but that is it, it will always grow back.  Any way, I hope the sheep will eat it and be able to control it and get a lot of nutrition and sustenance out of it.

I will be putting sheep on the pasture in a couple months and will be doing the same thing as you suggested doing with goats - I will be enjoying my own fresh lamb.

Thank you Mike.  I really appreciate that.  I moved two years ago from Florida to Tennessee and I am trying to learn the plants here.

I do intend to use the Kudzu that is in the pasture for the sheep to eat because it is good as feed.  However, it is so invasive here that it spreads into any trees or woods that are near the pasture and it is almost impossible to control.  It will kill all the trees and all other pasture plants so that all you have left is Kudzu.  It grows so fast and thickly over a pasture that nothing else can get any light, and all else dies.  Here in the states they say that it is "the vine that swallowed the southeastern U.S.".  It spreads by the vine which puts down roots, and it also spreads by the seeds that birds drop everywhere.  You can keep it controlled in a pasture where you have animals eating it or where you can mow it, but once it gets into the woods or trees on the side of the property it is almost impossible to stop.

Ok, thanks.  I will try again in a couple months.  It seems to be a cool season grass since it is the only grass growing at this time besides Rye grass which isn't clumping like this.

I am in Tennessee and trying to get pasture grass and legumes growing.  There was a lot of Kudzu growing here, and I have been mowing it a lot to knock it down.  I will be putting sheep on this pasture later this year.  I have a clumping grass currently starting (early spring) but I am not sure what type of grass it is and if it is good for pasture.  I am attaching a couple pictures and would like some help in identifying it.  Thanks for any help you all can give me.