Furze is an excellent food for every kind of stock. Cattle, although they may at first appear not to relish its prickly shoots, soon acquire a fondness for it. I have known several instances of herds being fed almost if not entirely on the bruised plant, and to keep in good condition. The late Professor Murphy, of Cork, stated that on the farm of Mr. Boulger, near Mallow, thirty-five cows were fed on crushed furze, which they "devoured voraciously." Each animal received daily from four to six stones of the crushed plant, to which were added a little turnip pulp and a small quantity of oats. The milk and butter yielded by these cows were considered excellent. In a letter addressed to me by a very intelligent feeder, Mr. John Walsh,[28] of Stedalt, county of Dublin, the following remarks in relation to this subject are made
Furze is seldom given to sheep or pigs, but I believe that it might with advantage enter into the dietary of those animals. Some of my friends who have lately tried it with pigs report favorably as to its effects. Horses partly fed upon this plant keep in good condition; it is usually given to them cut merely into lengths of half an inch or an inch, but it would be better to give it to them finely bruised. A horse during the night will eat a much larger quantity of coarsely cut furze than of the well bruised article, because he is obliged to expend a great deal of muscular power in bruising the furze, and must, consequently, use an additional quantity of the food to make up for the corresponding waste of tissue.
Gorse (furze or whin) is a seriously underrated plant. Its green and spiky and treated as a weed by many, burned alive by some. However, in the past it was considered a useful species, particularly by peasant farmers and smallholders. Here's some stuff about it that you may find interesting. If anyone feels inspired to trial gorse as an animal fodder, please feel free to let me know how you get on.
GROWING GORSE
Some books describe gorse as being difficult to transplant, hence it is generally started off in pots rather than in seed beds. However, both Phil Corbett and myself have found that transplanting is possible with care. I've occasionally dug up a mature plant, after first cutting it right back down to the ground, then replanted it in a gorse free area. The plant recovers quickly and can be used as a mother plant, seeding into the new area. To increase the chances of the seed getting going, I have laid out bits of carpet and cardboard around the plant early on in the year. This suppresses vegetation and can be removed in the summer as the pods ripen. This means there's a good chance of seed landing on bare soil.
The Isle of Man government have some interesting things to say about gorse; the Manx greatly valued both the low-growing native gorse (ulex gallii) and the taller imported ulex europaeus. To make traditional sod hedges more stockproof, imported gorse seeds were pushed a hand-span apart into suggane (Manx Gaelic for straw rope). This was pegged down along the hedge-top. I've not yet tried this but it sounds like an excellent technique. I would think that any organic rope, such as hemp, would work well
Its elastic seed-vessels, like those of the Broom, burst with a crackling noise in hot weather and scatter the seeds on all sides.
The Gorse has not as many uses as the Broom, nor is it of such importance medicinally.
'In France,' to quote Syme and Sowerby, British Botany, 1864, 'it is used for burning, being cut down every few years, in places where it grows naturally. In Surrey and other counties, it is used largely as fuel, especially by bakers in their ovens and is cultivated for that purpose and cut down every three years. When burned, it yields a quantity of ashes rich in alkali, which are sometimes used for washing, either in the form of a solution or lye, or mixed with clay and made into balls, as a substitute for soap. The ashes form an excellent manure and it is not uncommon where the ground is covered with Furze bushes to burn them down to improve the land and to secure a crop of young shoots, which are readily eaten by cattle. In some parts of England, it is usual to put the Furze bushes into a mill to crush the thorns and then to feed horses and cows with the branches. When finely cut or crushed, sheep will readily eat it.'
The bruised shoots form a very nutritious fodder and when well bruised are eaten with much relish by horses, and cows are said to give good milk upon this food alone. When crushed, it is necessary to use it quickly, as the mass soon ferments. The variety of Furze found in the west of England and in Ireland, called U. strictus, is the best for this purpose, its shoots being softer and more succulent. It has terminal bunches of flowers.
Professor Henslow (Uses of British Plants, 1905) states that Furze 'has also been used chopped up into small pieces and sown in drills with Peas, proving a good defence against the attack of birds and mice.'
The leaf-buds have been used as a substitute for tea and the flowers yield a beautiful yellow dye.
The seeds are said to be nutritious, but do not appear to have been used for cattle feeding, though in earlier days they were sometimes employed medicinally.
Goldsmith calls the Furze 'unprofitably gay,' but Furze is not 'unprofitable.' It is usually cut once in three years, and its ashes, after burning, yield a serviceable dressing for the land.
Gorse is frequently sown as a shelter to very young trees in plantations and as a cover for game and makes excellent hedges when kept closely cut, but is only to be recommended for this purpose in mild climates or sheltered situations, as it is always liable to be cut off by hard frost. Wherever sown, it requires to be kept free from weeds during the first year or two. Like Broom, it grows well near the sea.
The name Ulex was given it by Pliny, but its signification is unknown. He states that the plant was used in the collection of gold, being laid down in water to catch any golddust brought down by the water
