{"id":114,"date":"2025-11-14T05:24:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T11:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/?p=114"},"modified":"2025-11-14T05:24:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T11:24:14","slug":"two-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/two-cows\/","title":{"rendered":"Cattle and Cacti"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 data-start=\"77\" data-end=\"92\">Introduction<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"94\" data-end=\"401\">Cattle are raised worldwide; even yaks count as cattle and live in some of the coldest places. In many regions, cattle come in contact with cacti. About 100 years ago, some proposed that spineless Opuntia (O. ficus-indica) could replace most fodder and allow cattle to thrive in areas with very little rain.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"403\" data-end=\"418\">The Details<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"420\" data-end=\"764\">The scheme promised to make ranchers wealthy, but it didn\u2019t work. The cacti weren\u2019t very nutritious, and they were too cold-sensitive in most parts of the United States. Luther Burbank promoted the idea, but it never panned out. Still, even today, cattle sometimes munch on cacti. You have to wonder how they handle the spines and the glochids.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"420\" data-end=\"764\">Additional Reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Prickly-Pear-as-Food-for-Cacti.pdf\">Prickly Pear as Food for Cattle<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"tiled-gallery type-rectangular tiled-gallery-unresized\" data-original-width=\"768\" data-carousel-extra='null' itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\" > <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 768px; height: 524px;\" data-original-width=\"768\" data-original-height=\"524\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-2\" style=\"width: 353px; height: 524px;\" data-original-width=\"353\" data-original-height=\"524\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/two-cows\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-carol-von-canonb\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"349\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"230\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"115\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-Carol-Von-Canonb.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,594\" data-comments-opened=\"\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Man made vs. Natures&amp;#8217; fence\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Man made vs. Natures&amp;#8217; fence&lt;\/p&gt; \" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-Carol-Von-Canonb-300x198.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-Carol-Von-Canonb-600x396.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-Carol-Von-Canonb.jpg?w=349&#038;h=230&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-Carol-Von-Canonb.jpg 900w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-Carol-Von-Canonb-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manmade-vs-natures-fencing-Carol-Von-Canonb-600x396.jpg 600w\" width=\"349\" height=\"230\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"349\" data-original-height=\"230\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Man made vs. Natures&#039; fence\" alt=\"Man made vs. Natures&#039; fence\" style=\"width: 349px; height: 230px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> Man made vs. Natures&#8217; fence, Carol-Von Canon <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/two-cows\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"349\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"286\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"120\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,655\" data-comments-opened=\"\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Ox cart with firewood\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta-300x246.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta-600x491.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta.jpg?w=349&#038;h=286&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta.jpg 800w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta-300x246.jpg 300w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/oxcart-with-firewood-and-cactus-lon-queta-600x491.jpg 600w\" width=\"349\" height=\"286\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"349\" data-original-height=\"286\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Ox cart with firewood\" alt=\"Ox cart with firewood\" style=\"width: 349px; height: 286px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> Ox cart with firewood, Lon and Queta <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 415px; height: 524px;\" data-original-width=\"415\" data-original-height=\"524\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/two-cows\/olympus-digital-camera-6\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"411\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"520\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"119\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cow-and-cholla-eating-lonandquetab.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"711,900\" data-comments-opened=\"\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Chow with a bite of cholla\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Cows with pieces of cholla cactus stuck on; end of highway 77, SE of San Manuel, AZ&lt;\/p&gt; \" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cow-and-cholla-eating-lonandquetab-237x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cow-and-cholla-eating-lonandquetab-474x600.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cow-and-cholla-eating-lonandquetab.jpg?w=411&#038;h=520&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cow-and-cholla-eating-lonandquetab.jpg 711w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cow-and-cholla-eating-lonandquetab-237x300.jpg 237w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cow-and-cholla-eating-lonandquetab-474x600.jpg 474w\" width=\"411\" height=\"520\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"411\" data-original-height=\"520\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Chow with a bite of cholla\" alt=\"Chow with a bite of cholla\" style=\"width: 411px; height: 520px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> Chow with a bite of cholla, Lon and Queta <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 768px; height: 397px;\" data-original-width=\"768\" data-original-height=\"397\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 422px; height: 397px;\" data-original-width=\"422\" data-original-height=\"397\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/two-cows\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-robert-nunnallyb\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"418\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"393\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"118\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,848\" data-comments-opened=\"\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb-300x283.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb-600x565.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb.jpg?w=418&#038;h=393&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb.jpg 900w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb-300x283.jpg 300w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb-600x565.jpg 600w\" width=\"418\" height=\"393\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"418\" data-original-height=\"393\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb\" alt=\"cows-with-cholla-and-fence-Robert-Nunnallyb\" style=\"width: 418px; height: 393px;\" \/> <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 346px; height: 397px;\" data-original-width=\"346\" data-original-height=\"397\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/two-cows\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"342\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"393\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"116\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,1034\" data-comments-opened=\"\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Brown cow in Baja del Sur, Mexico\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb-261x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb-522x600.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb.jpg?w=342&#038;h=393&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb.jpg 900w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb-261x300.jpg 261w, https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/baja-del-sur-brown-cow-wonderlaneb-522x600.jpg 522w\" width=\"342\" height=\"393\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"342\" data-original-height=\"393\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Brown cow in Baja del Sur, Mexico\" alt=\"Brown cow in Baja del Sur, Mexico\" style=\"width: 342px; height: 393px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> Brown cow in Baja del Sur, Mexico, Wonderlane <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction Cattle are raised worldwide; even yaks count as cattle and live in some of the coldest places. In many regions, cattle come in contact with cacti. About 100 years ago, some proposed that spineless Opuntia (O. ficus-indica) could replace most fodder and allow cattle to thrive in areas with very little rain. The Details [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animals","tag-uses-for-plants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/ox-and-opuntia-Stephan-Summerer.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6879,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/6879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}