16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF QUEENSLAND. 



shrub, will not adequately provide for sustenance and growth 

 of young stock, which, indeed, appears to be the experience of 

 most cattle-men. 



PART II.— PRICKLY PEAR FOR DAIRY HERDS. 



Griffiths (2) records the regular use of prickly pear for 

 dairy herds in Texas, and later (1) shows its suitability for 

 roughage in a trial with two milk cows. In Sardinia employ- 

 ment in suitable rations is regarded as advantageous. More 

 recently Woodward, Turner, and Griffiths (9), in a compre- 

 hensive trial at Brownsville, Texas, have demonstrated the 

 possibility of using prickly pear in considerable proportion in 

 rations for milk production. Locally, apart from a limited 

 use of the boiled joints generally fed with bran or the enforced 

 browsing of edible prickly pear in drought, the plant has not 

 found any general use for dairy herds. 



The utility of prickly pear as a feed for dairy cows depends 

 fundamentally on the actual value of the prickly pear nutrients 

 in the rations, but will be conditioned by such considerations 

 as the cost of feeds, both relative and actual, with which 

 it might be fed or replace in the ration. In tliis paper the 

 value of the ]:iutrients of prickly pear in milk production alone 

 is discussed without reference to the economic side. 



Plan of Experiment. 



In the author's main experiments fifteen dairy cows were 

 utilised — pure and grade Ayrshires, grade Shorthorns, and 

 Jersey grade. Of these, seven were acquired in the district 

 and were doubtless accustomed to prickly pear in the pasture. 

 The plan was to compare prickly pear as a roughage feed, 

 both as regards its efficiency in the ration and effect on the 

 quahty of the product, with a usual roughage, which in this case 

 was mature Soudan grass {Sorghum var.) hay coarsely chaffed. 

 The concentrates completing each ration were wheat-bran and 

 linseed meal in equal quantities. 



As it was evident fron^the work with steers that prickly 

 pear was not a highly palatable feed, it appeared probable 

 that enough would not be eaten by the cows, when liberally 

 supplemented by meal, to constitute a ration adequate to 

 high milk yields. Accordingly the trials were preceded by a 



