12 proceedings of the royal society of queensland. 



The Wholesomeness of Prickly Pear. 



The good condition of the steers at the conclusion of seven 

 to eight months' feeding was evidence that prickly pear is a 

 wholesome cattle feed. Certain of the animals were slaughtered 

 and made subject of post-mortem examination. The report 

 (10) of the veterinary surgeon, Mr. A. McGown, M.R.C.V.S., 

 states that the carcasses were well nourished and entirely 

 healthy ; flesh of good colour, nicely grained, and of good 

 quahty ; fat evenly distributed, good clear white in colour 

 and of good quality. Certain changes were evident in the 

 alimentary canal — viz., some signs of occasional slight ulceration 

 of tongue and fauces, roughened palate, and enlarged papillae 

 both of cheek and rumen, thickened and toughened mucous 

 membrane of certain organs. 



The slight lesions described would have been caused by 

 portions of spines included in the feed. They are accidental 

 rather than necessary effects of the feeding of chopped 0. 

 inermis. Animals browsing the pest pear are apt, however, to 

 sustain some injury from spines, as evidenced by spines occa- 

 sionally found embedded in the tongue and the occurrence of 

 abscess of the jaw and fauces. Cattle constrained by hunger to 

 browse the prickly form of O. inermis may suffer from sore 

 mouth to an extent preventing further feeding. The altera- 

 tions noted in the post-mortem are ascribed to the prickle 

 ingested and the nature of the feed. 



Ranchers in Texas are reported to lose cattle from the 

 effects of accumulation of prickly pear fibre in the stomachs 

 (2). The condition is said never to occur from feeding chopped 

 prickly pear, and is obviated by inclusion of a reasonable 

 amount of other feed in the dietary. In local experience it would 

 appear that fibre balls are but rarely encountered in slaughtered 

 beasts. Cases of bloat are reported from America. Bloat 

 could, no doubt, be caused by surfeit. The amount of 0. 

 inermis that steers are willing to eat appears, however, to be 

 substantially lower than obtains with certain American species . 

 Owing probably to the watery character of the feed and the 

 low fibre content, rumination is restricted in animals receiving 

 a high proportion of prickly pear in the dietary. The assertion 

 that has been made that feeding on prickly pear unfits cattle 

 for grass pasturage ^is, however, negatived by the fact that 

 steers employed in the trials subsequently made good gains 

 at grass and were eventually marketed in prime condition. 



