The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-04-29
LIVESTOCK
Declares Tree Cactus
Has Been Demonstrated
As Sound Cattle Feed

The Estancia News reports what
appears TO be The hTst definite and
long continued experiment In the
feeding of the cactus to stock In New
Mexico during the winter season. The
News In It's last Issue relates the ex-
pctience Of an Estancia valley farm
cr In the foliowine
w -. Garland. who has a farm in
the foothills west Ut Estancia, Is the
pioneer cactus feeder in his country,
and his experience during the past
winter demonstrated that those who
own lands upoI which the tree cac-
tus nourishes have "a valuable re-
source Of which they have been here-
toforc ignorant.
II has been generally known for
years that the cactus contained valu-
able food constituents but the prob
lem III getting rio of the spines has
been considered an insurmOuntable
difficulty In utilizing the cactus on q
practical scale, and the experiments
by Luther Burbank IN producing "A
~spinclcss cactus have therefore been
watched with great interest. and u
has been generally considered that
the successful outcome of his expert
ments promised the only hope of
making the cactus an asset Instead
of "a nuisance.
Mr.. Garland, however, has demon
strated on a practical scale that the
tree cactus in it, natural state Is a
resource not 10 be desplsed in those
localities where II nourishcs. and that
IL Is not improbably worth while TO
propagate u as a feed crop.
Early last fall his attention was at
tracted by M of his cows which he
found had discovered the knack OF
getting at the cactus pods without
suffering great inconvenience from
the thorns.
This set him 10 thinking and by a
little experimenting he found that Il
was no great task to u the new
growth and remoTe the spines by
singeing, and that when hui treated
The COWS ate II eagerly, consuming
every bit of the last years growth.
He also found that II is a strong feed.
producing mSre milk and butter thar
any other forage he had ever used.
Having satisfied himself that IL was
all right as a feed. he Commenced
about the first OF December feeding
the cactus and nothing else to FIVE
milch cows. ale continued this
through the entire winter until a few
| weeks ago. when grazing ecame suf-
hcient TO support the stock. and says
he has never used a more satisfac-
tory feed.
As 20 the work Of preparing and
feeding h cactus, he says IL is not
"A difficult or iaborious task and com
pared with the labor Of raising and
harvesting regular forage crops. il r.
no task at all lie timed himself fro
q%uently and found that Il required an
average of thirty minutes to cut and
SINCE enough cactus 10 feed the COW
for one day. Thus IL will be seer
that to feed FIVE cows during thC
months OF December. January, Feb
ruary and March, i21 days. he put IL
only n trine over n weeks labor. OF
xix days of ten hours each.
Mr. Garland's method Is to cut the
new growth. handle It with a pitch.
fork. with which II Is held over q
small fire made OF brush and tWigs
He say Il takes very little FIRE 10 q,
the business. The spines burn OF al
most In "a flash. and the feed is read,
and the COWS yer always readl
for II.
II course, Mr.. Garland is fortu
nately situated for cactus feeding
The plant grows thickly IN an'