Cotton has been in food headlines, which has surprised some friends who gave me a shout with a link like this one from NPR — Not Just For Cows Anymore: New Cottonseed Is Safe For People To Eat. The idea of edible cottonseed isn’t one may people have really pondered I guess cause when we think of cotton, we think of the lint that makes our clothing and some of us don’t even think about the reality that there is also seed that is harvested at the end of the season.

Research on Cottonseed

But Dr. Keerti Rathore of Texas A&M University thinks bigger than a lot of us. I’ve had the chance to hear about his research several times and this idea he came up with two decades ago. To see his research is reaching reality is awesome.

Dr Rathore is originally from India. He’s seen lots of farmers there and in other parts of the world who work incredibly hard on their crops but remain hungry, food insecure. A lot of farmers in that place are growing cotton. Cotton seed has a great nutritional profile however they naturally include a toxin to humans called gossypol. It shows up in the plant matter and seeds.

Dr Rathore theorized if he could remove the gossypol from the seed it could be a good food source grown locally and he’s been working on it for more than 20 years! And whereas a lot of other genetically modified crops have been adding something, he eliminated gossypol production. Really cool work and I cannot begin to imagine the sene of pride for accomplishing something that can really help transform the lives of hungry people.

Here’s a video Texas A&M did that explains.

With the USDA review complete, it means farmers could start planting soon however, the cottonseed will have to be held until the FDA review is complete. If the review comes back positive, the seed could be used as a food product, otherwise it would be used as cattle feed.

Why eat cottonseed?

The nutritional profile of cottonseed is pretty well known. My friend who is a veternarian explained how cottonseed is used in dairy feed offering a good source of fiber, energy and protein. Cattle can eat it because and those complex stomachs process the gossypol. As ruminants, they break down some things that humans can’t — I mean we don’t exactly graze on pastures. All of that is part of what makes the headline such a grabber that they got clicks.

Cottonseed oil is processed removing gossypol which makes it favorite for sauteing and frying. I use it in my Instant Pot pretty often. I really need to write about this a bit more!

The post Edible Cottonseed Research Gets USDA Nod, Awaits FDA Review appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

It has been a while since I have had a guest post in my series of cotton being part of our daily lives. I love that Ashley Messing Kennedy took me up on the offer.  She’s a long-time friend who got me out of my comfort zone and into Michigan in the dead cold of winter.

Not only did I get to see ice sculptures while I was there, but I also had the chance to learn a bit about dairy farming and meet some of the dairy farmers in that area. It was a great experience for me. One thing I noticed…. folks in the dairy business were really interested in the fact I was so passionate about cotton, especially since they knew a very different side of my favorite fiber crop.

Cotton is Everywhere, Even in Cows

You know that saying, “You are what you eat”? If that truly is the case, the cows on our farm must be partly made of cotton! That might sound strange to you, but in a way it is the truth.

On my family’s dairy farm we feed our cows a mix. In the mix; called a ration, we blend all of the ingredients in what we call a mixer wagon. Our goal is to provide the cow with exactly the nutrients she needs in each bite of feed she takes.

You are probably asking how this relates to cotton at all. One of our favorite ingredients is a leftover from the cotton ginning process. We actually feed our cows cottonseed.

We add the cottonseed in our ration because it has some wonderful advantages for the cows. With the type of digestive system a cow has they can eat a lot of things we cannot. (Editor’s note: Can we eat cottonseed? may be an interesting read for you. )

The oil inside of the seed is extremely healthy for cows. With the cows working hard producing milk, we need to make sure they are eating enough energy. The cottonseed still has some of the fibers on the outside too. The fibers are helpful in a cow’s digestive system as well. In the same way we eat vegetables to keep our digestive systems moving and healthy, the fibers help do that along with other ingredients.

Although the cottonseeds are a leftover from the ginning process, what is one farmers trash is another farmer’s treasure. In dairy farming we have found out that cottonseed is a valuable resource to help feed our cows. If you want to learn more about our family dairy farm come see my blog at MessyKennedy.com.

If you have a particular connection to cotton or simply have a favorite item of cotton clothing, feel free to join the series of guest posts. There’s a lot more info here for your consideration.

The post Feeling the Cotton Love on a Dairy Farm! appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

One of the photos I took while I was in California was in a TV studio. I have to admit it stood out quite a bit in the set of photos I asked people to prioritize blog content. And that led Lakeshia Brown (check out her blog Uncommon Chick) to ask, what was up and who was speaking. Here is the photo Keshia asked about:

I am not sure how familiar everyone is with the way a green screen works. I have to admit being impressed every time I see one! And this time was even more impressive because I was sitting in Hanford, California (alongside my bud Dino Giacomazzi) and the person at the green screen – Michelle Mello – was teaching a class in South Carolina about cotton! She talked to the kids about the cotton products they were wearing, about where cotton comes from and more! And Trista Waymire was behind the control panel cuing up images and controlling audio, etc.

In the photo below you see Michelle in front of the green screen. You can also see the students in a monitor to the left. That way, she can call on kids, see what they are doing, etc. It was really cool and far more interactive than I could have imagined! The monitor on the right showed a lot of the behind the scenes in the control room.

Just below, you can see a closer photo of that monitor….  And you can actually see two Michelles! The one on the right shows her telling the students about cotton plants. That was eactly what was going out to the classroom in South Carolina! She did a great job of teaching them about cotton plant physiology (or the parts of the plant like I did in this video). The other photo shows what is cued up to go on the screen next. and over to the far right you see the teleprompter that helps Michelle & Trista who works the control panel stay synchronized on what should be brought up next.

The program was started by a country farm bureau and is reaching out nationally! And I think we may all want to look at what we can do to help further develop the program. It would be great to develop more ag programs and recruit more teachers and with Michelle & Trista’s experience, I think building the program would rock!

I took some video — I hope you understand the audio and all aren’t the greatest, but I think this helps you get the feel of how the teaching from a distance worked. And you can get some cotton basics down too! You can also check out the posts on my Cotton 101 series to learn more about my favorite fiber!

There is also a program about dairy farming. You can sign up for classes by visiting the Kings County videoconferencing site.

I know ranchers Troy & Stacey Hadrick have regular Skype conversations with a class that adopted them.

Have you ever done distance learning programs via video conferencing?

Related articles

• Idealistic about the Future of Farming & Working at Monsanto
• Cotton – Maybe My Last Photos of a Harvest Ready Field in 2012 (Day 6)
• Video of Giacomazzi Dairy Farm Inspires a Visit Even If Delayed
• Why would a farmer plant GMO cotton?

The post What’s up with that green screen? Who’s talking about what? appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I’m not sure what I thought a stereotypical dairy farmer was like when I got on social media, but I didn’t think I’d find a bunch of them tweeting. And I certainly didn’t expect to meet farmers who have secret agent cows blogging from their farms. Then I met Ryan Bright. Ryan is a 5th generation farmer with a slightly overactive imagination. He works alongside his father and uncle on a 100 cow dairy farm. He has one normal blog, Silo Skies, that talks about life on his dairy. His other blog, The Udder Side, is a sometimes humorous look at farm life from the point of view of secret agent spy cows. You can follow him on Twitter @Farmerbright.

I love cotton

One hundred percent

All the other fabrics

Never make a dent

(in my wallet)

As just a regular guy and a dairy farmer, I am a big fan of cotton. I buy it for both reasons. No, I don’t purchase cotton clothes for my cows, although they might have liked to wear pretty cotton sundresses over Easter. Cotton for me is both feed and clothing.

Our cows are fed a balanced ration of hay, silage, and grain. The grain contains cotton and I sometimes even see a bit of the white fibers. It makes a great source of energy and nutrition in their diet. I think it must be the secret ingredient to great tasting milk, at least that’s what Janice Person told me and I’m sure she’s not biased.

food rations for dairy cows include cottonseed

With three kids and a wife I am definitely a cotton supporter in the clothing department as well, but today I’m going to talk about me. My favorite item of cotton is a faded blue flannel shirt.

Dairy Farmer Ryan Bright in Old Blue

Old blue the shirt has been with me for a very long time, 1992 or so. This makes my shirt about 497 in clothing years. There were also brothers to this shirt, red and brown, but blue is the favorite and the other two have both passed on. He, he’s definitely a he, is almost always untucked and worn over a cotton t-shirt. I have owned him longer than I’ve owned a car or even started dating my wife. As far as that goes, he’s probably seen most of my old girlfriends, too, not that we want to talk about that.

While some folks turn to mac and cheese or chocolate for comfort, I turn to blue. He’s just comfortable and home-y. These days he’s washed on gentle (when I wash him) and worn only on special occasions like on a cool day when I have the opportunity to hang out at the house and watch tv (moments that grow fewer!).

Generally speaking there is a timeline for clothing in my house. New shirts and pants start out as going to church or town clothes. They graduate to hangin’ at the house clothes to going to the barn clothes to grease rags. Obviously stains and rips move the timeline forward and there is still an opportunity for some to take a detour to the goodwill boxes. My wife has threatened to move old blue past his unnatural state of being into barn clothes or worse, but so far I’ve kept him safe.

Is cotton the fabric of our lives? If it is what makes you comfortable and feel good then it is definitely the fabric of my life and especially so when I’m wearing old blue.

What’s your “old blue” comfy cotton story?

Related Reading

• The Udder Side — Secret Agent Cows taking the upper hand on Ryan Bright!
• Silo Skies — Ryan’s perspective on the dairy
• AgProud: Tennessee Dairy Farmer Ryan Bright (agricultureproud.com)

The post Old Blue Takes the Top Spot on the Dairy appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Editor’s Note:  My AgChat friend and veterinarian Kathy Swift recently asked if I’d like to trade guests posts. She asked if I could do a top 10 list of the ag sites I like and asked if I had something in mind for my blog. I knew immediately what to ask her about! I wanted to take advantage of her expertise in livestock to better understand where cottonseed fit in feed and nutrition with cattle, particularly dairy cattle. I so appreciate her sharing her expertise in an easy to understand blog post! I definitely have learned a lot and hope some of you do too. I know I sure appreciate the hours farmers spend doing chores more than ever before!

——————————————————

Feeding cattle properly is a very important part of keeping them healthy.  Like with people, diseases can be treated and prevented through proper nutrition.  Cows have a very unique microbial population in their stomach that allows them to digest parts of plants that humans cannot.  This presents a unique situation and opportunity.

In addition to feeding cattle to keep them healthy, feeding them economically is also an important concern.  In dairy farming, feeding the cows to produce milk accounts for roughly 50 percent of the expenses on a farm.  Finding nutritional and economical sources of quality feedstuffs is also important.

Farmers sometimes feed byproducts to their cattle.

Why would a farmer do this?

Economical feed source:  Like any business, farmers are looking for economical ways to keep their cattle healthy.  In Florida, it is a challenge to grow enough quality feed for cattle.  Byproducts can be very economical choices. 

Sustainable environmental practices:  The businesses producing the by product would have to worry about disposing of the product.  Selling them to cattle farmers keeps it out of landfills or other methods of disposal.

In recent visit to one of my dairy farm clients, I photographed the farm’s byproduct and conventional feedstuffs.
Before you even begin with feeding byproducts, you have to decide where you’re going to put them.  Proper storage of these feed ingredients is essential.

Notice the roof and concrete walls?  This keeps the area dry and reduces the amount of spoilage.  The concrete wall and floors also allow for a thorough cleanup once the area is empty.

The feed barn is separated into “bays” by a concrete wall in between.  This allows only one feed ingredient to be in each bay.  This allows for better inventory control  and allows the farmer to only include that specific ingredient when making a feed mix.

Now that we’ve got a place to put them, I’m going to show some of the individual feed ingredients.
This is a pile of whole cottonseed. When cotton plants are harvested and processed to get the cotton fibers, the seeds are captured by the cotton gin.  This whole cottonseed is a good source of fiber, energy and protein for cattle.  Yes, it’s as soft as it looks.  (I must admit I have taken a running leap into the pile on an occasion or two.)

The white “fuzzy” portion is actually not cotton, but the cellulose portion that makes it fiber effective.  (Remember that special bacteria I said cows have?  It allows them to digest the cellulose.)

Cottonseed can be fed to adult cattle because their stomach bacteria are capable of digesting it.  Monogastric animals (like people, cats and dogs) and young cattle and chickens cannot eat whole cottonseed because of the chemical gossypol, which they are overly sensitive to.

Citrus pulp is another feed byproduct for cattle.  It is the dried leftovers of the pulp, peels and seeds of grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes.  The pulp is created during the process of juicing citrus fruit, something we have a lot of in Florida, compared to the rest of the country.  This pulp is dried by machines to a moisture level of approximately 10 percent (pretty dry).  It is a good source of calcium and carbohydrates and the cows love it!  It smells like the orange extract you use when you’re baking.  To make it easier to store, a portion of it will get made into pellet form, but the cows enjoy the peel form better.  This, of course, is a very economical feed product in Florida since most dairy farms are very close to orange groves.

Wet brewers grains are the byproduct of producing beer.  This is another favorite of the cows too.  It is a high protein feed and an average carbohydrate source.  It’s a wet feed (like the name implies) and is good at keeping a feed mix from getting to dry (like eating popcorn without butter).  Because it is wet, it has to be fed quickly because it won’t store for more than 3 to 4 days, especially in hot weather.  Close up, the texture looks a little bit like sawdust.  The brewers grains this farm feeds happens to come from the Anheuser Busch plant near Jacksonville, Florida.  (Don’t worry, there is no alcohol present, but to be safe, we don’t let the cows drive.)

Distiller’s grains are almost the same thing as wet brewers grains, but are the byproducts from “spirit” making.  It is also used as a protein and energy source.  You may not be able to appreciate from the picture that there are some fine corn pieces and the same smell you might experience when cooking with the flavored alcohol extracts.

Anyone like grits?  Wonder what happens to the rest of the corn in the process?  The corn hominy we feed to cattle is the byproduct of making coarse grits for human consumption.  It is one of the most “powdery” feeds for cattle and is a good energy source.  The cows really like the taste of this.  This is their version of “candy”, but will give them a bad belly ache if they eat too much.

One of the main things needed to keep cows healthy is a good fiber source.  While the byproduct feeds I’ve talked about a good in a variety of ways, we still need an effective way to get fiber in them.  One of the ways is to feed a good quality hay.  This is alfalfa hay, which comes from farms in the west, typically Idaho.  Our sandy soil in Florida does not allow us to grow alfalfa effectively, although we sure can supply the sunshine.  We do have a variety of grasses that my clients make into hay, but they don’t have the protein that alfalfa supplies as well.

Dairy cows in Florida are typically fed two to three times a day.  Most dairy farmers have the fresh feed ready for them to eat once they return from the milking parlor.  (Their perfect time to refuel.)  To help speed things along, farmers will sometimes make a “premix” of the dry ingredients (much like you do when you’re baking).  This is an example of the premix at left.  Notice how everything is evenly mixed?  This premix includes everything I’ve talked about so far except the wet brewers grain (it would make a sloppy mess), but also includes their mineral, which is a gray, finely ground substance (a bit less coarse than table salt).

The last ingredient to talk about here is corn silage.  In Florida, the corn is typically planted in late February to early March and harvested about mid to late June.  The corn is harvested when it has a certain dryness (about 35 percent).  The entire plant (ear, leaves and stalk) is harvested and chopped.  This corn is then stored and allowed to ferment for a minimum of three weeks.

This dairy farm stores their corn silage in long plastic bags.  Some farms will use the upright silos or will use a large bunker.  For this farm, the bags best fit his management style.

You can see that these plastic bags for storing the corn silage are about 200 feet in length.

We’re finally ready to mix a load of feed for the dairy cows.  Using a loader, the farmer can put a specific amount of the premix, corn silage, and wet brewers grains into the feed mixer.  The operator dumps the feed into the mixer wagon (red thing behind the tractor).  The mixer acts like an industrial size kitchen mixer and completely and thoroughly mixes each ingredient.  Why would we want to do it this way?  Cows can be like kids and pick and choose what they want to eat.  To make sure they get a balanced diet, we make a big “casserole” (without having to put it in the oven.)

Now, it’s finally time to feed the cows!  Hearing the tractor and mixer wagon coming is their equivalent to ringing the dinner bell.  Chow time!

Yes, this gets done 2 to 3 times daily, 365 days a year.  The girls never take a day off.

Dr. Kathy Swift has been a cattle veterinarian in Florida since 1997.  When she’s not busy providing veterinary care to animals the North Florida area, she blogs about two of her passions in life, agriculture and art, on her blog, https://cowartandmore.blogspot.com.

The post What do cows eat and why? appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.