Cottonseed

[Randallc]

I was considering a supplemental feeding program at our place in Throckmorton using whole cottonseed, and I have a few questions for you guys using it. First, are you guys seeing any benefits from feeding seed? I know this summer was really hard on our bucks, and I feel they could've benefited from some help. Second, where do you buy yours? I live in Brock (Weatherford), work in Ft. Worth, hunt Throckmorton, so does anyone know of a place convenient to those areas? Third, if you have a feeding cylinder 3' around and 5' high how many pounds of whole cottonseed will it hold?


Thanks for any help!

[Creed Killer]

In on this.. hope you get some good responses. Been wondering about the same things.

[bbqfan5909]

This year would not a be a good year to start feeding cotton seed. With the late rains, alot of cotton was ruined. We called our local gin and he said with the poor crop, he wont have much and the farmers have first rights to claim it (which they did).

[TXDraht]

We are testing it out on our place. Cylinder is about the size you described. Held 8 - 50# bags.

[deerwatcher51]

I started cottonseed for the first time last year. I was to late to find any in bulk and ended up buying cottonseed in sacks. I bought a half a ton to start and in sacks it was about the same cost as protein. I filled the wire feeders in January along with the protein feeders. I feed protein year round. If I remember correctly, you can put about 350 lbs in each wire feeder. From January through June, the cottonseed basically went untouched, but they were hitting the protein pretty heavily. In July, it was like a switch was flipped and they started hammering the cottonseed. I ended up buying another half ton and they ate all of that by the end of August. My plan this year is to let the protein run out and fill the cottonseed feeders and have that be their only option for January and February. I bought a high sided trailer and have already picked up three tons of bulk cottonseed from the nearest gin, which was 90 miles away. As far as finding cottonseed, I would google "Cotton Gins" and see the ones nearest you. Call them and see if they have any available. Now is probably the best time to find some. Later on they will either not have any more or will have contracted out what they have. I hope this helps.

[Randallc]

This year would not a be a good year to start feeding cotton seed. With the late rains, alot of cotton was ruined. We called our local gin and he said with the poor crop, he wont have much and the farmers have first rights to claim it (which they did).

I see a lot of cotton left in the fields around Throckmorton now.

[Arrow-Tek]

Cotton seed filling trailer and feeder

We are just North of Saginaw in Newark and we carry cotton seed in 50lb bags and also sale/rent cotton seed filling trailers. We have designed a cotton seed feeder to go along with our trailer. Below are some pictures, message us for more details.

[AntlerCollector]

If you're buying cottonseed in bags you are working way too hard. I have fed cottonseed for the last two years at two spots on my lease. I feed from February to September. So far I have put out 18,000 pounds at my two feed pens. I can't imagine doing that with 50lb bags. Deer love cottonseed. It's high in protein, fat, and fiber. This season I expect the mills to run out due to the flooding we had. Hopefully I will still be able to find it. I get my cottonseed in Eldorado and San Angelo. Google cotton gins and CO-OP's near you. The best way to get it is with a trailer that has sides on it. You can also have them fill your truck bed if you don't have a trailer. Get you a snow shovel and it's easy to scoop out and put in a wire feeder. I made my feeders out of 2x4 welded wire from TSC and a t-post. They are cheap and work great. A water tote frame works too. I prefer cottonseed over protein because RACCOONS DON'T EAT IT! Water doesn't ruin it either. I'm not sure exactly how much 3'x 5' will hold, but it's close to 350-400 lbs I think. I hope this helps. I will post a couple pics of one of my feeders.

[AntlerCollector]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RascalArms]

If you're buying cottonseed in bags you are working way too hard. I have fed cottonseed for the last two years at two spots on my lease. I feed from February to September. So far I have put out 18,000 pounds at my two feed pens. I can't imagine doing that with 50lb bags. Deer love cottonseed. It's high in protein, fat, and fiber. This season I expect the mills to run out due to the flooding we had. Hopefully I will still be able to find it. I get my cottonseed in Eldorado and San Angelo. Google cotton gins and CO-OP's near you. The best way to get it is with a trailer that has sides on it. You can also have them fill your truck bed if you don't have a trailer. Get you a snow shovel and it's easy to scoop out and put in a wire feeder. I made my feeders out of 2x4 welded wire from TSC and a t-post. They are cheap and work great. A water tote frame works too. I prefer cottonseed over protein because RACCOONS DON'T EAT IT! Water doesn't ruin it either. I'm not sure exactly how much 3'x 5' will hold, but it's close to 350-400 lbs I think. I hope this helps. I will post a couple pics of one of my feeders.

^^^What he said^^^
No way on earth I would tote CS in bags

[Randallc]

This is great information, thanks guys!

[Randallc]

How do the hogs like it? Should I put it in one of my pens?

[RascalArms]

Cottonseed

How do the hogs like it? Should I put it in one of my pens?

We don’t have hogs but I don’t know of just a whole lot of things a **** hog won’t eat.
I’ve heard it’s hard for them to digest....but I’d bet they’d eat the crap out of it!!

[oscare66]

Cotten seed is the way to go

[MasterOfNothing]

https://youtu.be/I8pNxtiA07k

I put this link on a cottonseed thread a couple months ago, but I didn't get any responses on it. I think it had a lot of interesting information. I'm new to deer hunting, as well as this forum, so I've been doing as much research as I can to help me understand deer better. Apparently there a chemical called gossypol in cottonseed that causes sterility in deer, so feeding cottonseed year round can affect fawn crop. I don't know if this helps, but it might be something you want to look into.