Knoxville City Council to decide whether to allow goats to graze on private property

Tyler Whetstone | Knoxville

Show Caption Hide Caption Goats take care of kudzu at Williams Creek Goats work to clear brush and invasive plants from the Williams Creek Urban Forest in East Knoxville Wednesday, July 15, 2015.

Pesky kudzu eating away at your property? Rippling roots destroying your plants?

The city of Knoxville is attempting to make a way to resolve these issues by passing an ordinance change that would allow temporary, permitted use of goat grazing on private property. The City Council unanimously approved the ordinance change on first reading Tuesday night. It must be approved on a second reading, June 19.

The city began using the four-legged eating machines in 2010 as a more effective and greener method used by the city of Knoxville’s Public Service Department and Keep Knoxville Beautiful to eradicate the invasive plants at Fort Dickerson Park.

Currently, the city’s ordinance states it is “unlawful for any person to keep or allow to be kept cattle, horses, sheep or goats of any kind in any residential section” unless applicable zoning laws allow it.

Goat grazing is green

Goat grazing, as it is formerly called, is an alternative to using herbicides, which can just stop the plants from growing but doesn’t necessarily kill them. The goats eat the kudzu, the ever-growing, vine-like plant, until they get to the root, which completely stops the growth.

Knoxville Public Services Director Chad Weth said the city annually has $20,000 set aside for invasive species removal but isn’t currently using goats.

“Last year and this year we have had too many other projects where this money is being spent, and goats were not an option,” he said in an emailed response. “I would not rule it out in future years, but currently there are no city goats.

“The difficulty is just bringing them back year after year to eliminate kudzu,” he said. “Using chemicals is the same thing though it takes many applications to shrink the root ball and goats are much more environmentally friendly."

Still, the goats are a nontoxic way to manage kudzu and other invasive vegetation and they make good employees, he joked.

In the past the city has contracted for the goat labor with Whistle Pig Farms of Thorn Hill.

The proposed ordinance change also allows for electric fencing to maintain the goats.

Fine print

If approved, the permit required would be issued by the Animal Control Board and would cost $25. Each permit would not last no longer than 90 days and no more than two permits could be issued a year.

The city will limit and require a number of things including the number of goats to no more than one goat per 2,500 square feet of the grazing area and property owners must post a sign in their yard with contact information for the property owner during the duration of the grazing. There’s a lengthy list of regulations

After the approved period, all temporary fencing and animals must be removed from the property.