Research on mechanical harvesting of prickly pear for catle feed

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56890/jpacd.vi.398

Abstract

In 1988 Texas A&I received a grant to develop a biomass combine to harvest woody brush for use as an industrial fuel source. Since then we have adapted a previously proven Texas Tech cutterhead to a hydrostatically powered John Deere forage harvester. This machine has proven quite capable of harvesting 4 to 6 inch diameter mesquite trees, shredding them, and blowing the shredded biomass to a trailer behind the harvester. We felt this machine might prove useful in harvesting prickly pear cactus for cattle feed. Unfortunately this is not a picked up as is the woody brush. While this process might be useful if is desirable to destroy the cactus, this will certainly not harvest the cactus.

Publication Facts

Metric
This article
Other articles
Peer reviewers 
0
2.4

Reviewer profiles  N/A

Author statements

Author statements
This article
Other articles
Data availability 
N/A
16%
External funding 
N/A
32%
Competing interests 
N/A
11%
Metric
This journal
Other journals
Articles accepted 
18%
33%
Days to publication 
1
145

Indexed in

Editor & editorial board
profiles
Publisher 
Professional Association for Cactus Development

Downloads

Published

27-01-2021