35 



The members of the sedge family furnish but little grazing. Usu- 

 ally they are coarse, fibrous, mnutritious, and rather unpalatable to 

 stock. The few that are named furnish some feed. 



The list includes besides the above mentioned a number of native 

 trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, herbs, and roots, all of which furnish some 

 feed for stock; also a few introduced species, not yet established. 



The prickly pear (Opuniia sp.). The cactus known as prickly 

 pear, or panini, is one of the important forage crops of Hawaii. On 

 some ranches there are large areas fairly well covered with this plant. 

 On Ulupalakua, for example, there are 2,000 acres, on the Haleakala 

 ranch 1,500 acres, on leeward Hawaii 10,000 acres. 



Stock eat cactus chiefly during the dry season when other feed is 

 wanting. In Texas it is said that cattle on cactus range drink about 

 once weekly in winter months and in summer months two or three 

 times. In Hawaii there are cattle 3 and 4 years old that do not know 

 the taste of water or how to drink it. The cactus is both feed and 

 drink for them. Besides being used as a pasture for certain cattle at 

 all times, the cactus fields serve as insurance against loss of cattle dur- 

 ing extreme drought. At such times the cattle are brought from 

 other pastures. They soon learn to feed on the cactus, and ^hen all 

 the fresh lower joints are consumed the upper portion is cut for them 

 from day to day. In the Southwestern States the spines are burned 

 off or softened by steaming before feeding. In Hawaii the spines are 

 not removed. 



Cactus is an emergency feed for the beef producer, but is of value 

 at all times to a dairyman, since it can largely replace silage as a suc- 

 culent feed in a ration for the dairy cows. This feed may cause an 

 odor or bitter flavor in the milk and may produce blue milk and pale 

 butter. One dairyman fed 100 pounds of cactus, 9 of brewers' grains, 

 and 3 of cottonseed meal with good results. Another recommends 

 35 pounds chopped cactus, 3 quarts bran, and 1 quart cottonseed 

 meal twice daily when the cattle have a little outside pasture. For 

 fattening mature steers from 100 to 200 pounds of cactus daily is rec- 

 ommended along with from 1 to 6 pounds of grain feed. 



The following table gives the composition of cactus in Hawaii: 1 



Composition of Hawaiian prickly pears. 





Water. 



Protein. 



Fat. 



Nitrogen- 

 free ex- 

 tract. 



Crude 

 fiber. 



Ash. 



Young fronds 



Per ct. 



Per ct. 



Per ct. 



Per ct. 



Per ct. 



Perct. 



94.63 



0. 44 



0.07 



3.22 



0.52 



L12 



Old fronds 



94.62 



.39 



.09 



3. 16 



.61 



1.U 



i Hawaii Sta. Bui. 13. 



