Additional Strategies for Drought Failed Cotton Crops

With the brutal, extensive droughts through many parts of the U.S. during the past few years, many cotton producers have had a year or years of failed cotton crops due to drought.  Those producers with crop insurance have been able to recoup some of their investment in the crop.  Some producers who did not have crop insurance were not able to even recoup any of their out-of-pocket costs.  What if the producers of these lost crops could perhaps find a way to market the lost crop?  Cotton seed (with some lint) and cottonseed meal are, of course, well known as standard feedstuffs of high nutritive value for ruminant animals.  However, if insurance eligibility regulations on drought damaged cotton allow, the failed crop could be baled into round bales like hay and fed to cattle during the winter months.

An October 2011 analyses by Texas A&M researchers reported that whole cotton plants in the College   Station area (stems, leaves, and bolls): crude protein 13.3% and total digestible nutrients (TDN) 62.4%; whole plants minus the leaves 11.2% crude protein and 58.8% TDN; and lint and seeds from a standard harvested module 15.5% crude protein and 59.4% TDN.  We will consider alternative cotton management options for various yield thresholds including the feed and nutritional value of cotton for use by livestock.