Last year, Farmers Grain & Feed in Allenton was only using 20 percent of its cotton seed capacity. This year, that’s picking up as dairy farmers look for alternative feed ingredients to stretch forage supplies.
The feed mill is going on its second year of operation. The state-of-the-art mill has the capacity to store 15-18 loads of cotton seed on-site. General Manager Glenn Schellinger says in addition to forage needs, cotton seed has gotten more affordable because the energy sector hasn’t needed the cottonseed oil like it did the past few years:
“Because it’s dry, the value of the forages themselves are up, and the vegetable oil demand for biodiesel has come down from its peak, and the value can be now fed instead of crushed for the oil in the seed,” Schellinger says. “There’s a lot of oil in cottonseed, so when the vegetable oil portion of the economy was high, it was being crushed for the oil instead of being fed.”
Cottonseed comes to Wisconsin through a variety of ways: trucked out of Georgia or Missouri, or via barge or rail.
“I’ve noticed the availability of logistics has been good. There was a point in time where there just wasn’t enough trucks to go around. And now it seems like there is a capacity to haul. It’s not as hard to get stuff to show up on time or schedule a truck.”
When it comes to the crop in Wisconsin, Schellinger says he expects a short season — meaning the existing crop won’t come with any excess like the state has had in the past. He adds the crop quality is on the fence due to the variance in germination.
See a recent Mid-West Farm Report story on cottonseed demand and stretching forage supplies on dairies: https://www.midwestfarmreport.com/2023/07/16/dairy-nutritionist-how-to-stretch-forage/
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