174 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



245. Cotton seed. The cotton seed carries about 19 per ct. fat, or oil, 

 and nearly 20 per ct. crude protein. Formerly much seed was fed in the 

 South, especially to steers and dairy cattle. (598, 752) Now little is fed 

 before the oil is extracted, both on account of the value of the oil and 

 because cottonseed meal usually gives better results. Burns of the Texas 

 Station 17 found that 205 Ibs. of cotton seed fed with cottonseed hulls 

 and kafir grain was not equal to 100 Ibs. of cottonseed meal for fatten- 

 ing steers. Owing to the hi^h oil content, cotton seed sometimes has an 

 unduly laxative effect. Wet, moldy cotton seed, or that which has heated, 

 should never be fed. 



246. Cottonseed cake and meal. At the oil mills, after cotton seed 

 has been cleaned and more or less of the short lint covering the seeds 

 removed by machinery, the leathery hulls of the cotton seed are cut by 

 machines, called hullers, so the kernels may drop out. The kernels are 

 separated from the hulls by screens and are then crushed, heated, placed 

 between cloths, and subjected to hydraulic pressure to remove the oil. 

 The residue is a hard, yellowish, board-like cake about one-half inch thick, 

 14 in. wide, and 32 in. long. For the trade in the eastern and central 

 states the cake is generally ground to a fine meal, for the western trade 

 it is often broken into pieces of pea or nut size for cattle and coarsely 

 ground for sheep, while the export cake is commonly left whole. For 

 feeding out of doors the broken cake is preferable to meal, as it is not 

 scattered by the wind. Unadulterated cottonseed meal of good quality 

 should have a light yellow color and a sharp, nutty odor. A dark or dull 

 color may be due to age, to adulteration with hulls, to overheating dur- 

 ing the cooking process, or to fermentation all these injure its value. 18 



Cottonseed meal is one of the richest of all feeds in protein and carries 

 over 8 per ct. of fat. The protein and fiber content vary considerably, 

 depending chiefly on how thoroly the hulls are removed from the meal. 

 The value of fresh and wholesome meal depends on the percentage of 

 protein it contains ; manufacturers and feed control officials have there- 

 fore agreed on the following classification of products : 



Choice cottonseed meal must be perfectly sound and sweet in odor, yellow, not brown 

 or reddish, free from excess of lint, and must contain at least 41 per ct. of crude protein. 



Prime cottonseed meal must be of sweet odor, reasonably bright in color, and must 

 contain at least 38.6 per ct. of crude protein. 



Good cottonseed meal must be of sweet odor, reasonably bright in color, and must 

 contain at least 36 per ct. of crude protein. 



Cottonseed feed is a mixture of cottonseed meal and cottonseed hulls, containing less 

 than 36 per ct. crude protein. 



Owing to its wide variation in composition, cottonseed meal should be 

 purchased on guarantee whenever possible. During recent years, as the 

 millers have found they can sell the lower grades of meal for nearly as 

 high a price per ton as meal high in protein, many have removed the 

 hulls less thoroly from the kernels, thereby producing meal lower in 

 protein and higher in crude fiber than previously. 19 Northern farmers 

 will usually find it most economical to purchase high-grade meal. 



"Tex. Bui. 110. "Hills, Vt. Rpt. 1909. "Fraps, Tex. Buls. 189, 241. 



