Cotton ginning season begins, 1st bale winner announced

From Staff Reports

The 2021 cotton harvest and bailing season has started its run.

Six gins – Slaton Co-op (now called WesTex Co-op Gin), Acuff-McClung, Texas Star Co-op, Idalou, Lubbock Cotton Growers and New Home started earlier this month.

Posey Gin closed its business down earlier this year.

Ginners are hoping or a better season than last year. The 2020 harvest finished this season ginning 330,798 bales, a 55,969 drop from 2019’s total of 386,767.

The count missed the Top 10 records, the first time since 2014 it failed to reach a milestone.

It was the first time since 2014 to miss the Top 10 Bale Count.

The current record is 631,181, achieved in 2016.

The now closed Posey Gin was the only gin to bale more than the previous season, baling 604 more  than 2019’s total of 9,129. That year, the gin baled 9,733 units.

The other gins in the area saw drops in their overall counts over last year. Some of the gins had a severe drop in bales from last season, while others were hit less severely.

The first bale of the season was also ginned for the 2021 year.

WesTex ginned the 436  pound cotton bale Oct. 5 at 4:13 p.m.

Forbes Farms, LC, located two miles north of O’Donnell, was the farm that provided the cotton.

In order to win the honor, which includes a cash prize,  had to be ginned in the Slaton Trade Territory: Acuff-McClung, WesTex Co-op Gins, Lubbock Cotton Growers, or Texas Star Co-op Gins.

The 2021 season started ginning early October.

Last season, cotton ginning season finished Jan. 21, around the same time as the 2019 year.

A photo of the first bale winner receiving their check from Happy State Bank will be published in a later edition of The Slatonite.

A weekly bale count will be included on the Ag page beginning in the Oct. 21 edition.