Dateline: November 18, 2004

Donley cotton looking good if rain will stop

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Last week, officials with the Donley County Gin in Lelia Lake were calling the 2004 cotton crop one of the best in decades; but several days of cold, wet weather could threaten that assessment.

The lack of freezing temperatures has kept the damage from being as bad as it could be, but producers now need a lot of dry weather to get the crop out of the fields. Folks at the gin say they are still optimistic about this season’s prospects.

“This might be the best cotton crop in 36-plus years,” gin manager Earl Shields said last week. “It looks good countywide.”

Shields said the cotton is grading good, and some has been sold for 59 cents, which he says is a good price.

“If the cotton will grade good, the farmers will get a good price,” he said. “Of course, with $1.71 diesel it might not be good enough.”

As of last Wednesday, 700 bales had been ginned already, and estimates were pointing to 10,000 to 12,000 bales for this season. Shields said some producers were pulling two bales per acre before the rain fell, which measured 1.5 inches through Sunday night and was still falling on Monday and Tuesday.

Farmers also have seen some changes at the former Paymaster Gin this year.

Parent company ADM got out of the ginning business and sold the facility to Shields and the Memphis Compress in August. The new owners say they want the business to become farmer-owned or a co-op gin at some future time.

“The gin is well repaired, and we’re going to service the farm accounts of this area,” Shields said.

Mackie Allen of the Memphis Compress said the gin appreciates the business of local farmers and hopes everything gets bigger and better in the future.

“We just need it to dry out,” Allen said.