El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-11-23
PRICKLY PEARS
GOOD FOR COWS
Department of Agriculture
Finds Them Excellent
Food for Dairy Cows.

Washington. D.. @. Nov. 2S.-Tho
prickly pear. specialists or the United
States department Of agriculture say
has now been demonstrated to be q
good and palatable feed for dairy cows.
Prickly pears have been fed TO cattle
to some extent in Texas and Mexico
for many years. u their value as a
feed has not been fully appreciated.
Recent experiments by the department
Of agriculture have shown. however
that this feed can be used much more
extensively and can form a much lar
ger proportion Of the ration than was
believed possible heretofore.
Under proper climatic n soil con-
ditiOns the prickly pear IS a perfectly
practicable farm crop At Browns
vile, Texas. the average annual yield
for the first two years growth from
cuttings was about 40 tons and at san
Antonio about % tons an acre After
the first two years a yield of so TO 100
per cent more can be expected Irri-
cation is unnecessary and the cost or
growing the crop is therefore small in
comparison with the tonnage produced.
Contains Ten Percent Dry Matter.
The prickly pear, it is found, con-
tains approximately 10 per cent OF dry
matter, the remainder being water If
il is assumed that the uutritive values
Of different kinds Of feed vary in di-
rect proportion to their content Of dry
matter. one pound Of sorghum hay
equals 1873 pounds OF prlckly pear
when tie latter is fed in large quanu-
ties and 10I pounds when fed mod
erately. One pound OF sorghum silage
was found to equal 90 pounds or
prickly pear and one pound OF cotton
seed bulls equals IS.
From so TO 100 pounds OF prickly
pear, SO Of sorghum and 1 OF cotton
seed meal a day made a maintenance
ration for a Jersey mature cow when
dry. If no sorghum hay is available
the amount Of prickly peal should De
am~-Z 81 Mka cot.
tOnseed meal to two pounds Expert
ments show, however. that 1t is best
to feed not more than from so to 70
pounds of pricklv pears a day When
120 to $50 pounds were led, excessive
securing followed. and in addiuon the
effect Of the feed made il
extremely difficult to keep the stable
in a sanitary condition.
Cows III PriekIy Pear.
In general it may be said that cows
like prickly pear and eat it with rel
ish. The feed, according to the expert
ments. causes an increase in the a
tity Of milk produced but a slight de-
crease in the total production OF but
ter fats. This decrease becomes more
pronounced as the quantity OF prickly
pear in the ration is increased Butter
produced on 4 prickly pear ration IS
cOlored but neither its flavor
nor the keeping quality Of the milk IS
.nOticeably influenced. From the eN-
periments il is noticed. however. that
COWS fed upon prickly pears appear TO
more sensitive to ~"nOrthers' than
those which receive q dry roushage.
The greater the quantity Of the plant
consumed the more the milk prOduc-
ton fell off during these storms. On
the other hand the feeding OF prickly I
pears appeared TO rave no influence on :
the offspring Of the cOws o on the
of the mothers after birth
Cost Of FeedinE Varies. {
The cost Of feeding pricklE near VIII
depend naturally on local conditions Z
There is no great difference between
spiny and the spineIess varieties in
their values as feed. but the cost Of
harvesting the latter is less. On the
other hand the spiny varieties yielded
\ larger tonnage to the acre in
Brownsville and are not so susceptible 4
TO insect depreciation They are also /
more hardy and can be grown on 4
much larger area The cost OF SINCE /
ing the spines off was approximately
50 cents a ton. The most common
Of removing them is by SINCE.
with a strong gasoline torch. j
machine specially constructed for this
purpose being on the market