Jersalem Artichoke leaves as fodder

[digging]

Greetings,
I have been giving my rabbits J, Artichoke leaves with thier other foods and they seem to love them! There is not a trace of anything left the next day. I figured since people eat sunflower seed sprouts that these leaves would be good to eat for animals. I know that rabbits need a higher fiber diet so I'm hoping these leaves will help. I'm going to dry some for winter. I wonder what kind of food value they might have but have not been able to find any info on such. Since they are human food plant if the leaves can be used as animal feed that is an extra bonus. I read that trimming the tops of the stems helps encourage the plant to form tubers, thats where the leaves are the freshes and dense. I wonder if any other animals would enjoy eating them?

Dig

[Susan Girard]

I read that the tubers make good pig food, but I've not ever used the leaves Thank for the tip, I must try my chooks on the leaves once they are up and growing, in this part of the world. Removing the flower heads improves the tubers as well

[digging]

Well I did find another place that also said sheep/goats like to eat the leaves also. Nice to know because it is a tall growing plant that could be planted like a fast hedge row along a fence and then it could be partly protected from over grazing. I'm going to try that along one part of my fence next spring, the snow is just starting to come this week for me.

Dig

[andrew curr]

stock love them chickens eat them if you dont have anything better
how tall do they grow i n canada?
where are you susan?
is basil a fart antidote?

[digging]

Well the ones growing in the best soil are almost 8ft tall with lots of leaves and side branches. The rabbits eat every bit up when I feed it to them.

Dig

[Susan Girard]

I have been told cloves, cinnamon and garlic are antiflatulent herbs, I don't know about basil.
Andrew I live in Katoomba, Blue Mountains. We live at almost the same altitude, but my version of temperate is just a "little" more southerly than yours : )

[andrew curr]

thanks dig &susan
my mechanic mate grew some 12footers in contaminated soil (sump oil),we dnt eat them
i thoght with longer daylight they might take off
i dont know who could do the maths ,but they probably out yield any plant i know here!