By now, all of the gins across the Cotton Belt probably are repaired, have hired and safety-trained their crews, have been hit by or dodged whatever weather bullets Mother Nature has shot at them and cranked off for the season. Barring more weather, other acts of God, simple mechanical wear and tear or human error, the properly designed and maintained modern cotton gin plant ought to run as smoothly as a sewing machine without unscheduled shutdowns from the time it starts in the fall until the last bale is pressed.
Now is the time to keep an eye out for those capacity robbers in your own gin. A capacity robber is any particular system or operation that keeps you from averaging at least 90 percent of the manufacturer’s stated bale throughput capacity of the gin stands that you are using on good seed cotton. You may have gotten used to the machine or system that chokes or goes down once a shift, or at night, or every two or three days. These are capacity robbers and cost you money.
– Contact Ed Hughs at ed.hughs@ars.usda.gov or by telephone at (575) 526-6381.
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