"Prickly pears may be fed to live stock in a green, succulent condition right from the field as needed. They require no curing, housing, or storage. In this they offer an advantage over most crops. They can be grown at a minimum expense, only the cost of planting and keeping down the weeds being involved, although the yield, like that of most crops is in direct proportion to the care and labor bestowed. Prickly pear will thrive where the rainfall is too irregular for most standard farm crops. Its yields are large and cumulative, increasing from year to year, so that a heavy tonnage may be had from small areas or use at critical periods. Prickly pear is green and succulent and admirably adapted to produce "good condition" in cattle when used with dry feeds. Cattle in brush pastures are known to have subsisted upon it even without water for long periods."--[2].