We had a similar problem as joelshprentz, and the above suggestion didn't end up working. Here's a similar thread regarding this same issue:
http://answers.splunk.com/answers/125955/3rd-party-syslog-server-recieved-the-strange-messages-from-uf.html
We had to use the syslog forwarding method to not also get the heartbeat messages (disclaimer: I was doing the forwarding from a Heavy Forwarder, so the syslog forward method works perfectly in that scenario):
outputs.conf
[syslog:target_group]
server = host:port
type = tcp
props.conf
[spec]
TRANSFORMS-syslog=unique_name
transforms.conf
[unique_name]
REGEX = .
DEST_KEY = _SYSLOG_ROUTING
FORMAT = target_group
The above is what worked for us. Good luck.
... View more