Crop Potential of Cactus Pads and Fruit for Cattle

Opuntia ficus indica (prickly pear) was bred to be spineless by Luther Burbank in California in the early part of the 20^th century. This spineless cultivar has spread around the world and is used principally as livestock feed throughout arid regions. It's fruit (including the peels) has many applications as a consumable, as well as applications in pharmaceuticals. The seeds render a valuable oil and can be ground into flour for baking. It's fibrous pads are also used to create bio-fuel and synthetic leather. 

The plant itself is composed of cladodes (pads) which are the 'leaves' of the cactus. It is a fast growing plant and can spawn many new pads during the growing season. Young pads have no spines and can be eaten raw or cooked. Mature pads and the fruit (tunas in Spanish) have glochids in place of spines, which are tiny spinelets that are like fine hair. These can be very irritating and can be pressure washed off the pads. 

The cactus thrives in poor soils and requires a fraction of the water of conventional forage crops. In heavy clay soils, it is better to add organic matter to prevent water pooling around the roots which can cause it to rot. Currently my plants require about two gallons per week. In winter, it will be one gallon a month. I planted each pad in an east-west row with the pad face planted at a 30° angle facing south. Prickly pear will quickly grow pads that orient themselves to all angles of the sun during the growing season.

Each plant is separated by six feet. Some rows have pads every three feet; this is an experiment to see which density is better. Rows are separated by fourteen feet, since each plant can grow to become six to eight feet wide and can reach fifteen feet in height without regular harvesting. Below is a video produced by ICARDA that served as a rough guide for my planting:

The current orchard complex is surrounded by electric fencing due to javelina predation during the winter. A larger problem in certain sections is predation by rabbits and kangaroo rats during the early spring while new pads are shooting up, as there is no fresh fodder for rodents. In a way, this shows the success of the crop (if the critters like it, it must be good). I am planting buckwheat as a forage offset for the rodents, because buckwheat is a nitrogen fixer and if given the proper care, can crowd out other species that the rodents won't eat anyway.

The main source of feed for livestock are the mature pads. In semi-mass production, tractors with large trailers are pulled between the rows of cactus and the pads/cladodes are cut off at the joints by workers. The pads are stacked in the trailer before being transported to the feeding troughs. The pads can be stored over the winter as long as they are kept free from pests. 

At the feeding troughs, a chipper/grinder is pulled behind a tractor. A worker throws pads into the chipper which then grinds them and deposits the ground material into the feeding trough. Since the pads are 95% water, it is best to mix them with dry fodder. In a more automated environment, it should be possible to load a trailer with a combination of pads and dry fodder and conveyor them through the chipper together into the trough. The video below of an operation in Brazil illustrates the procedure:

As for fruit production, it is possible to obtain at least ten tons per acre. Below is a photo of a cactus plantation in Italy:

You will notice that the cactus is in fruit, it is probably around August or September. The access rows are about six to eight feet wide. Each cactus carries between 50 to 75 pads. Each pad can carry 50 fruits. As the plant matures and pads are harvested, the plant grows pads faster due to the mature root system. 

There are many automated solutions to prickly pear fruit processing. The following link Fruit Processing Machine demonstrates a high volume solution to fruit processing. Below is a video of a machine manufactured by Romiter (romiter.com). This demonstrates that there are automated systems for fruit processing:

A review of scientific literature of opuntia ficus indica is demonstrated below (only the first page shown):

Search results from scholar.archive.org for opuntia ficus indica shows 8,674 results starting in the 19^th century up through today. These are scientific papers and excerpts from agricultural journals. Given a nutritional profile desired for a particular herd of cattle, it should be possible to extract scientific research detailing specific results.

Below is a view to the southeast of my test orchard. The left of the photo shows the Chiricahua mountains. The elevation here is approximately 4,312 feet. The cladodes are well developed and should overwinter well. Currently irrigation is accomplished by dragging 150' of hose up and down the rows, but I will be installing a drip system before next spring.

Most of the cactus on this installation are the three main cultivars of opuntia ficus indica (white/green, purple and orange). Some native varieties are also represented with opuntia engelmannii, opuntia linguiforma, opuntia robusta, opuntia arizonica, opuntia cochenillifera and blue agave. 

There are many more species to test here for fodder viability, but the main focus will be prickly pear cactus. The inspiration for this 'Arid Agriculture Experiment Station' comes from Burt Buffum (1868-1944), who published Arid Agriculture:  A Hand-book for the Western Farmer and Stockman in 1909.

I visited the Philippines in March of 2023. I helped to resurrect an enclosure that typhoon Rai had destroyed in December of 2021. My wife and I removed fallen logs and debris. We restrung a chain link fence that had been buried in order to keep goats out of it. Her sister and her husband found and obtained a local opuntia variety that was descended from what the Spanish brought from the Americas in 1540. Its botanical name is opuntia cochenillifera:

You'll notice that it is also spineless and grows quickly. The major difference is that new pads bud out with green colored growth instead of red (a hallmark of opuntia ficus indica). There are approximately 150 of these plants growing. The black rock you see is ancient coral.

What lies ahead? We're experimenting with technologies that increase the drought tolerance of crops and enhance overall growth, thus reducing water usage even further. We have anecdotal evidence that these technologies are effective, but no hard data at this particular location in Arizona as yet. 

The Sunizona site was planted in spring of 2023 and expanded over time. The Alcoy site was planted at the same time. The plants are consistent in height (three or even four pads high). I believe this, and other arid crops deserve a chance to prove themselves.