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“OLD PROCESS” COTTONSEED CAKE COMEBACK
This month, Louisiana’s Hollybrook Gin offers a mechanically expelled meal, and soon, pellets
CARY, N.C. and LAKE PROVIDENCE, La. (Feb. 9, 2006) – As a burgeoning biodiesel industry continues its binge on U.S. vegetable oil production, including oil pressed from cottonseed, one processor has demonstrated a special appetite for a bygone byproduct of the business: mechanically expelled cottonseed meal, or “old-process” cake.
Formed in 2005 in response to the alternative-fuel boom, Lake Providence, Louisiana-based Hollybrook Cottonseed Processing has developed an extrusion process that more closely resembles the historical method of pressing oil from delinted whole cottonseed.
Chris Troeh, an investor in the Hollybrook venture, explains that solvent processing, which requires the chemical hexane, replaced the mechanical press in the mid 1900s because of its ability to extract more oil. This, of course, meant less oil would remain in the expelled meal. The hexane process also strips away vitamins and antioxidants, which serve as natural feed preservatives.
Adds Buck Chastain, a technical consultant with Albion Advanced Nutrition, Brownstown, Ind., “Old time feeders remember the old cottonseed meal because of the additional energy it provided. The gals would really slick up and bloom up.”
For economic reasons, the “old process” cottonseed meal became a memory. Until now.
“Everything comes full circle,” Chastain notes, referring to Hollybrook’s return to a mechanical press – a more modern, efficient mechanical press. “The good news for beef producers is that the resulting meal retains more of the oil, and all of the cottonseed hull – unlike solvent-extruded meal, which is completely dehulled – for a cake that provides Omega-3s, protein and fiber.”
A self-described “big fan” of the Hollybrook cake, Chastain explains why cattle will perform well with this unique three-in-one product.
“It’s high in protein like traditional cottonseed meal, but it offers the added benefits of higher fat, which helps slow digestion, and higher fiber from the hulls, which boosts feed efficiency,” he says. “You get more digestibility out of the feed ingredients rather than watching them go out the back end.”
Regional win-win
Rebecca Elliott, regional sales representative for Freeport, Illinois-based Furst McNess Company, the exclusive distributor for the Hollybrook cake, says the process brings the opportunity for added value to the Mid South’s cotton farmers and, in turn, provides a nutritious local feed supply for local cattle farmers.
“It’s a unique feed ingredient that in many cases compensates for the weakness of the region’s forages,” she explains.
Adds Chastain, the options for using this product in beef production, from creep feed, starter-grower, developing heifer, and bull performance test diets, are “very exciting.”
While traditional cottonseed meal compares at 41% protein, 14% fiber and 0.5 fat, the nutrient profile of Hollybrook’s cake tests at 26% protein, 24-25% fiber, and 6% fat.
“The high fat improves body condition and daily gains, the high fiber levels reduce forage requirements, and the natural phosphorus level reduces mineral supplements while also improving reproduction,” Elliott says. “What’s more, the heat produced during oil extraction actually increases the bypass characteristics of the protein and reduces the free gossypol content.”
Pellets, and easy handling, on deck
With the installation of an onsite pellet mill later this month, Hollybrook soon will add range cube production to its offering, allowing cow/calf and stocker operations to feed with ease, Elliott says.
“Production of the finished goods at the point of origin creates freight savings and other synergies that are typically not seen in today’s environment of commercial feed manufacturing,” she says. Measuring 7/8-inch in diameter by 3 inches, the cubes provide enough hardness to reduce shrink and improve flowability.
Currently, the cottonseed cake is available in meal form. Bulk meal costs $130/ton f.o.b., and $155/ton f.o.b. in super bags. Pellets and cubes, available as early as April, will carry a $20/ton premium and can be delivered on dump trucks, walking floors and hopper bottoms. Producers can call the Furst McNess Company at 800.622.3276 for a delivered price.
Hollybrook Processing is a limited liability company formed by majority holder Hollybrook Gin, Louisiana, and minority owners Alliance Grain and Dahlem, Inc. The company was formed in 2005 and produces three key products from cottonseed: linters, prime crude cottonseed oil and extruded expelled cottonseed meal.
Cotton Incorporated, funded by U.S. growers of upland cotton and importers of cotton and cotton textile products, is the research and marketing company representing upland cotton. The Program is designed and operated to improve the demand for and profitability of cotton.
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