By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent ST. LOUIS, Mo. — While most of the farm layouts at this year’s Gateway Farm Toy Show that took place the first week in February were composed of Midwestern crops, Cody Austin – a Broseley, Mo., youth – created something a little different: A cotton farm.
The farm was as much an educational layout for those attending the show as it was a piece of farm art. Through his efforts, many learned a lot about a crop that is a bit of a mystery to many in the central United States.
Austin’s display was based on a real farm he studied before putting any of the pieces to the display on the board.
“This is modeled on the Pearson Farm at Sikeston, Missouri,” Austin said. “Farm Manager Brian Kennedy showed me step-by-step how cotton is processed.”
After spring planting is done and the harvest is ready to begin, there are several steps that Austin showed, to get the cotton from field to processing. The first is to pick the cotton. For this process, Austin used his customized John Deere 8310 stalk chopper.
For this cotton farmer, it took two to pick the cotton. To get the equipment the way he needed it, Austin said he customized it all.
“On the tractors, I added new rubber tires, turnable front ends and I added mirrors and flashers and a three-point hitch,” he said.
Once the cotton in the field was picked, next he dumped it into the boll buggies.
“When the buggy is full, the load goes to the modular building where the cotton is compressed into square bales,” Austin said.
The compressed cotton is then sent by truck to the cotton gin. The cotton bales sit in the cotton yard until the gin is ready.
“The cotton gin is working by blowing cotton seed into dry box trailers,” Austin explained. “The cotton is divided and the processed cotton goes to the mill and the seed goes to make cotton seed oil.”
Everything is used in this scenario. The pile of trash left behind serves as the raw material that is spread over the fields. After the cotton has been chopped, the ground is worked with a JD 7939 hipper, which rehips the cotton rows.
While the hipping takes place, growers also plant wheat seed to serve as ground cover.
The 1/64th-scale layout revealed all aspects of the cotton production. With the knowledge he gained through Kennedy, Austin put together a display that won first place at the Gateway show.
The cotton farm is real-life, down to the pests that can wreak havoc on a cotton field – boll weevils. Austin included the boxes representing Boll Weevil traps.
“The Boll Weevil traps attract them to the trap and work to keep them out of the fields. I have rangers check the traps. When the harvest is done, they will take it down.”
This farm news was published in the May 21, 2008 issue of the Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
