Author
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Anthony, William |
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MAYFIELD, WILLIAM - EXTENSION SERVICE USDA |
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Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 6/3/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Cotton processed at some gins has a rough appearance that is penalized about $20 per bale in the cotton marketing system. The bales classed as "poor preparation" represent less than 0.5% of U.S. cotton; however, they are usually concentrated at particular gins and are very detrimental to individual cotton producers. Data were analyzed from 12 of the gins that had more than 5% poor preparation in 1994 to ascertain possible solutions. No consistent patterns were apparent for all gins. Interim solutions were proposed to mitigate the problem and possible causatives will be investigated in future studies. Technical Abstract: The number of bales of cotton in the U.S. classified as rough preparation is generally less than 0.5% of the crop. In 1994, at least 12 gins representing over 350,000 bales had greater than 5% preparation calls. Data from these gins were analyzed by frequency analyses across time to isolate occurrence patterns. Results were extremely variable and did not indicate a clear pattern across the entire season for all gins; several groupings of gins with similar chronological patterns were developed. At one gin, analyses by producer clearly indicated a strong relationship between producer and preparation calls as preparation ranged from 0% to 13.6% across producers. A number of causatives such as inadequate drying, excessive conveying velocities, machine overloading, incorrect machine settings and recirculation in vacuum dropper and blow boxes were indentified. Possible solutions were suggested to help resolve the preparation problem. |
