Strippers--cotton strippers that is.

Windy in Kansas · #1 11/08/10, 10:47 AM

Article in the local paper today about there being a worldwide shortage of cotton. If you have plenty of acres on which to grow it and there are cotton stippers nearby that can harvest and process your crop you might consider growing some.

http://hutchnews.com/Todaystop/bickel-cotton--2

7thswan · #2 11/08/10, 12:01 PM

Glenn Beck was just saying that cotten has gone up. Also the cost of Womans shoes.

tikaani · #3 11/08/10, 01:27 PM

around here all those that were growing cotton have switched to rice. As far as I am concerned you guys can have the cotton. Defoliant is some nasty stuff

springvalley · #4 11/08/10, 01:31 PM

cotton prices had gone down so low that farmers have switched over to other crops. Most don`t want to go back and forth with crops all the time. Plus cotton strippers are expensive to buy. > Marc

beowoulf90 · #5 11/08/10, 01:38 PM

Wow talk about misleading titles....

You had me all worked up.. Here I was, all ready to support single mothers one dollar at a time.

What a let down..

Oh well I guess I should have known better...

How about recycling the cotton on Q-tips? Would that be called cotton stripping?

Gee wonder if cotton will grow here in PA...

Windy in Kansas · #6 11/08/10, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by springvalley

Plus cotton strippers are expensive to buy. > Marc

I think most farmers in Kansas belong to a cooperative of sorts that does the stripping for them, ships, maybe markets, etc.

Kansas farmers seems to be trying a lot of new crops not traditionally grown here. Around 1900 corn was king and then wheat took over. Now with modern varieties and methods corn in making such a comeback that KS now produces more bushels of it than wheat, of course in great part because the yields are greater.

Don't know any that have tried peanuts on a large scale as of yet. Probably too tough to market for now.

Our lower humidity and ever present breezes, for some crops, tend to help keep diseases down. I really think that KS could become a great vegetable growing state. Cheap land, plenty of irrigation water, etc. Really wish I could persuade a California grower to experiment here by bringing in his equipment and renting some irrigated land for a trial run. Perhaps migrant labor would be a stumbling block.

sunflower-n-ks · #7 11/08/10, 03:26 PM

"Our lower humidity and ever present breezes,"

You have LOW humidity? And breezes, not WIND? Wow, I need to check out your part of the state...... LOL THE high humidity here is about to do me in. he he

Harry Chickpea · #8 11/08/10, 03:37 PM

From what I'm told, contract price early this summer was 85 cents per pound in the module. Told DW, that doesn't look good for the price of socks this upcoming year. The defoliant used is just glycophosphate, VERY thinly misted.

Txrider · #9 11/08/10, 04:38 PM

Hmm and I was thinking I have seen more cotton than usual being grown in Central Texas..

Windy in Kansas · #10 11/08/10, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Txrider

Hmm and I was thinking I have seen more cotton than usual being grown in Central Texas..

Wouldn't be surprised, but the article told that nature wiped out about a half million bales worth in TX this year. "Meanwhile, a hailstorm that hit Texas, the nation's largest cotton state, took out about a half million bales of cotton."
-------
Breeze/wind guess it depends upon the speed of when a breeze turns into wind. Often enough to keep the gnats and mosquitoes away and to keep perspiration evaporated. In other words----just enough.

Hutch is about as far east as you can go without getting into higher humidities. Even Wichita a few miles away generally has more. We do have more than further west in Kansas but without summer temperatures as high nor winter colds as low.

Hutch really has sort of a micro climate compared to Wichita, McPherson, Lyons, etc. We'll often get rain while Wichita gets ice and in the opposite direction they'll get pounded with a snow storm. Life here is just pretty good, hence the reason I've stayed.

Gregg Alexander · #11 11/08/10, 09:10 PM

Going to keep checking back with a local cotton farmer this winter , as I am thinking about putting in a few ac this next yr. This guy comes right by my place and told me he would plant and harvest for me if I worked it up for planting, ect. He farms 1100 ac of cotton, he booked this yrs crop for$ 110/100wt. He told me yesterday he was averaging almost 2 bales per ac

**clovis** · #12 11/09/10, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregg Alexander

Going to keep checking back with a local cotton farmer this winter , as I am thinking about putting in a few ac this next yr. This guy comes right by my place and told me he would plant and harvest for me if I worked it up for planting, ect. He farms 1100 ac of cotton, he booked this yrs crop for$ 110/100wt. He told me yesterday he was averaging almost 2 bales per ac

Wow. That is pretty close to $1000 an acre.

What are the inputs like? How much to harvest it?

Old Vet · #13 11/09/10, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregg Alexander

Going to keep checking back with a local cotton farmer this winter , as I am thinking about putting in a few ac this next yr. This guy comes right by my place and told me he would plant and harvest for me if I worked it up for planting, ect. He farms 1100 ac of cotton, he booked this yrs crop for$ 110/100wt. He told me yesterday he was averaging almost 2 bales per ac

How much acreage do you have? You can't go out and plant anything you want you must have an allotment for cotton.1&3/4 to 2 bales is average if you fertilize and irrigate. Do you have a well and equipment to irrigate with?

Gregg Alexander · #14 11/09/10, 06:02 AM

Looking at around 20 ac if all goes right. All of the cotton around here is dry land. Even though dry spell here in mid summer,what rains we got came at the right time.
Cotton closed yesterday $146.23 inputs are running in the $510-$520 / ac.
I am not going to tear up 280 ac of pasture and take corn, peanut land and change to cotton.

Windy in Kansas · #15 11/09/10, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Vet

You can't go out and plant anything you want you must have an allotment for cotton.

Decades ago one could plant whatever they wanted in the amount they wished to. However at that time they took a risk of marketing a harvested crop UNLESS they had a government issued marketing card. With it came acreage restrictions, etc. In other words government conformity.

In the 1970s you could grow what you wanted in the quantity you wanted but staying out of the government program meant that you could get no program benefits such as price support, loans, nor any subsidies. Your choice. My dad and I both opted out of the programs back then. We tired of idling 4.3 acres here, 10.7 acres. there, 17.1 acres, etc.
In addition to what I owned I had 6 other landlords and the paper work was a nightmare. Back then the alternative crops that you could plant on those tiny amounts of set aside acreage simply wasn't worth the hassles and the program benefits weren't that great. Finally a new program came about and we both opted back in.

Today I really don't have any idea about the government programs but read just a few years ago that many farmers derived about 50% of their income as a result of being in government programs. That leads me to believe that Gregg could plant cotton without any government allotment, but would not receive any benefits from from such programs either. What I'm saying is that there has always been a choice to grow a crop or not, with only a few exceptions such as tobacco and perhaps peanuts. Cotton may or may not also be one of those that have restrictions but I'm not aware of such.

Old Vet · #16 11/09/10, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

Decades ago one could plant whatever they wanted in the amount they wished to. However at that time they took a risk of marketing a harvested crop UNLESS they had a government issued marketing card. With it came acreage restrictions, etc. In other words government conformity.

In the 1970s you could grow what you wanted in the quantity you wanted but staying out of the government program meant that you could get no program benefits such as price support, loans, nor any subsidies. Your choice. My dad and I both opted out of the programs back then. We tired of idling 4.3 acres here, 10.7 acres. there, 17.1 acres, etc.
In addition to what I owned I had 6 other landlords and the paper work was a nightmare. Back then the alternative crops that you could plant on those tiny amounts of set aside acreage simply wasn't worth the hassles and the program benefits weren't that great. Finally a new program came about and we both opted back in.

Today I really don't have any idea about the government programs but read just a few years ago that many farmers derived about 50% of their income as a result of being in government programs. That leads me to believe that Gregg could plant cotton without any government allotment, but would not receive any benefits from from such programs either. What I'm saying is that there has always been a choice to grow a crop or not, with only a few exceptions such as tobacco and perhaps peanuts. Cotton may or may not also be one of those that have restrictions but I'm not aware of such.

I guess that is why all the farmers plant rice border to border and then plant wheat border to border. The amount of acre to start with is 10% on what you can grow but you may get buy with planting anything you want . I thought I would plant what ever I wanted but the Agriculture extension office said you can plant all you want if you sell it on the world market not local. Of course Farming may have changed over the last decade since I have farmed.