TEXAS NEIGHBORS | FALL 2021 COTTON: From field to gin Take a drive through Texas this time of year and you’re bound to find a field or two of white, fluffy cotton. It’s an economic staple in Texas, and we’re the top cotton-producing state! Cotton undergoes an amazing transformation to get from fields to our homes. First, it’s not just used for our favorite fabric. Cottonseed can be pro-cessed into a meal that cattle like to eat. It can also be used to create a cooking oil. Like potato chips or mayonnaise? Check the ingredients label. Chances are, it has cottonseed oil in it. Although there are many uses for cotton, it’s perhaps best known for its use in clothing items like T-shirts and blue jeans. It takes quite a transformation to turn a white, fluffy cotton boll into a soft pair of jeans. First, the cotton must be stripped or picked out of the field. Both machines, although different, remove the cotton from its woody-like plant in the field. It’s then rolled into a round bale like hay or it’s formed into a large, loaf-like module to make transporting large quantities of cotton easier. When cotton modules or bales arrive at a cotton gin, they’re taken apart. The cotton is then dried and cleaned. Cottonseed and the fiber are then mechanically separated. The seed is then sent on to be processed into oil or meal and used in foods, cosmetics and more. The fiber then takes an extra journey to a mill where it can be woven into the cloth used to make our sheets, towels and other products. Fabrics then head to warehouses, shipping companies, textile manu-facturers and eventually to retailers where you’ll buy your new favorite shirt, blue jeans, socks, towels and more. Cotton Vocabulary Boll: The boll is the seed-bearing part of the cotton plan where the cotton fibers are formed. Stripper: A cotton stripper is a machine that pulls the entire boll off the plant, along with its leaves and branches. After being separated inside the harvester, the resulting fiber, called seed cotton, is directed separately into a basket. Picker: A cotton picker pulls cotton from the open bolls, resulting in cleaner seed cotton because the plants’ boll husk, leaves and stalk are left intact. Just like with the cotton picker, the seed cotton is collected in a big basket. Module: A large rectangle of cotton ready to be moved from the field to the gin Gin: A gin is where farmers take their cotton modules and cotton bales to be dried and cleaned. Cottonseed and the fiber are mechanically separated. Test Your Knowledge Test your knowledge of cotton with this guided activity Know It: (Vocab ulary word Guided Activity: After watc (Recom Cotton hing the mended cotton for grad es 2-6) https://vim video, have eo.com/402 some fun https://ww with s to know ) 62519 w.youtub what you e.com/wat 6/d1fe0c3 learned! ch?v=M9p 12a zB6rqDn4 Answer It: Boll Pollination • True or • What False: Cotton grows insect on a plan help • Who t. invented s cotton grow ? (Hint • The the cotto : it goe cotton n gin? s . . . “buzz” gin remo How did • True ves the ) or _______ he get the idea • What False: A cotton from the to inven boll is the part of t the cotton the cotton same bow _______. o Boll gin? are your l you eat clothes your cerea o Seed and favo s l out of. rite blank o Lint ets made from? o • What Oil food find out! in your pant ry is mad e with cotton seed oil? Hint: Look Draw It: at the food labels to • You learned about the lint is on cotton the boll. boll in the video . Draw a cotton Tell It: boll and label wher e the • Mak e your to tell your own video (usin g a phon everythin family what e, tablet in your g you l , com h Agricul ture Linter WWW.TEXASFARMBUREAU.ORG