Cotton Gin

The completed modules are hauled by road to one of many nearby gins which are also large scale and highly mechanised in keeping with the industry's image. Just after leaving the farm shown in the last post, we reached the little village of Ashley which has one of the larger gins in the Gwydir valley, and the management willingly showed us around. It is owned by Namoi Cotton, one of the big players in the industry.

The gin has a vast storage yard where the modules are off-loaded and positioned according to owner and variety of cotton. As noted earlier, these modules are up to 20 tonnes in size, but increasingly the industry is using the more efficient - in labour cost terms - round modules which provide for better automation in the cotton fields, albeit only weighing perhaps 3 tonnes. The two types are shown in the attached illustrations.

The modules to be ginned are collected and delivered to a large factory building housing the noisy but very fast machinery to sort out the three components harvested: cotton lint, which goes to make our clothing; cotton seed, which can be processed further in either of two ways; and cotton trash - impurities or one kind or another. We were told however that most of the trash isn't quite rubbish since a lot of it goes to make jeans which apparently don't need the best quality cotton. The cotton seed ends up either as steak or oils used in medicines and other items. The former use sees cotton seed ending up as high protein cattle feed in one of the many intensive feedlots seen in this part of the world; the latter occurs after crushing of the seeds. So, if you ever see any Australian steak there is a remote, but only remote, chance that the animal in question consumed cotton seed at some stage. The third photo shows cotton seed being loaded on to a large truck. Unlike in most of Europe, trucks here are increasingly road trains with prime movers hauling up to three trailers behind them. The one shown here is a double-length trailer - nasty to get past on narrow rural raods, but just possible.

The final two illustrations show the gin itself and the final baling of refined lint ready for export. 95% of Australia's cotton crop is exported into world markets, especially SE Asia, and it is only through intense mechanisation and attention to quality that we can sell competitively into corrupt global markets where many producers receive large subsidies. The visit to the gin was an interesting diversion on the lengthy journey to St George - an opportunity not to be missed.

AS