Comments on: Cactus eating bull saves Kenyan drylands

By: symptoms of ulcer

symptoms of ulcer — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:56:12 +0000

symptoms of ulcer…

[...]AfriGadget » Blog Archive » Cactus eating bull saves Kenyan drylands[...]…

By: Harold

Harold — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:04:14 +0000

I remember learning about U.S. cowboys burning the thorns off of prickly pear cactus in the late 1950′s or early 60′s. I hope all the African ranchers with prickly pear learn about the practice. It might save their herds.

By: Cactus Eating Bull Saving Kenyan Drylands « Şantiye Şefi

Cactus Eating Bull Saving Kenyan Drylands « Şantiye Şefi — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:59:46 +0000

[...] Cactus eating longhorn saves Kenyan drylands Cows have been personification an critical purpose in land replacement in Baringo by eating up a invasive irritated pear cactus a nasty invasive plant which is destroying a drylands. It’s not viewable during all for cows to eat this troublesome cactus, though Murry Roberts as well as his mother Elizabeth Meyerhoff told me about an extraordinary plan which their organization, RAE (Rehabilitation of Arid Environments) has been operative on. A couple of years ago they detected which a internal rancher had a longhorn which not usually ate a nasty outlandish troublesome ugly, plant, though additionally taught alternative cows to go for it too. … During a dry weather of 1999 – 2000 grassy fields were marked down to unclothed earth as well as cows had zero left to eat were failing of starvation heading to drawn out famine. The story goes which a single rancher swayed his longhorn to eat a leaves after he had burnt off a thorns. Opuntia have been 80% H2O as well as if a single can get past a thorns, a plant is utterly healthful . The alternative very hungry cows watched a longhorn as well as afterwards followed fit to illustrate saving a flock as well as a rancher who has never looked back. The thorns have been burnt off regulating timber from an additional nasty invasive species, Prosopis juliflora – creation this an eco-friendly plan all round. [...]

By: Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Cactus Eating Bull Saving Kenyan Drylands

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:28:53 +0000

[...] Cactus eating bull saves Kenyan drylands Cows are playing an important role in land restoration in Baringo by eating up the invasive prickly pear cactus a nasty invasive plant that is destroying the drylands. It’s not obvious at all for cows to eat this thorny cactus, but Murry Roberts and his wife Elizabeth Meyerhoff told me about an amazing project that their organization, RAE (Rehabilitation of Arid Environments) has been working on. A few years ago they discovered that a local farmer had a bull that not only ate the nasty exotic thorny ugly, plant, but also taught other cows to go for it too. … During the drought of 1999 – 2000 grassy fields were reduced to bare earth and cows had nothing left to eat were dying of starvation leading to widespread famine. The story goes that one farmer persuaded his bull to eat the leaves after he had burned off the thorns. Opuntia are 80% water and if one can get past the thorns, the plant is quite nutritious . The other starving cows watched the bull and then followed suit thus saving the herd and the farmer who has never looked back. The thorns are burnt off using wood from another nasty invasive species, Prosopis juliflora – making this an eco-friendly project all round. [...]

By: patrick

patrick — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:28:41 +0000

prickly pear has several species in kenya, one with fewer thorns was originally imported as cattle fodder from South Africa, where it had been used by boers around 1900. The one with more hairy thorns is a lot more dangwrous to clean up and cows can get nasty ulcers on their lips from eating it…
Watch how baboons roll the fruit ‘indian figs’ around on the ground ti get rid of the thorns before eating it

By: paula

paula — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:20:27 +0000

Thanks Dave. Hey it looks like a miracle out there – Opuntia is going completely wild. Surprisingly nobody else in Kenya is feeding it to cattle.

By: Dave Harcourt

Dave Harcourt — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:57:13 +0000

You make it sound like a miracle but cactus was already used as animal feed in the US in the 19th century, FAO identified knowledge gaps in the 1990s and a major publication was completed in 2000. It is, however, a really good producer of feed with very low water demands, so makes a good project as the post reports.

http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0009sp2.htm “..converts water to dry matter – or digestible energy – far more efficiently than grasses and legumes, responds well to fertilizing, tolerates heavy pruning, and can be fed to livestock as fresh forage or stored as silage. Studies have shown that a hectare of mature cactus pear can produce up to 100 tonnes of cladodes (the cactus “leaves”) a year in areas with as little as 150mm of rainfall.”