Dateline: October 25, 2007

2007 cotton crop looking good 

Donley County’s first bale of cotton for 2007 was raised by Steve and Trish Schwertner, and gin manager Earl Shields said this should be a good year for local producers.

“Everybody’s cotton looks good,” Shields said. “I think we’ll see a lot of two to three bale-per-acre irrigated cotton this year, and dryland cotton will pull one and a half bales.”

Shields and Steve Schwertner agreed that the crop is consistently good across the county.

“I think technology is helping us learn how to grow cotton,” Shields said.

Schwertner said the varieties of cotton have improved. His prize bale came from a dryland patch of AFD 5064. He also grows FiberMax 9063 on his irrigated land.

Shields also said the eradication of the boll weevil has helped immensely and that farmers also aren’t dealing with the worm infestations they’ve had in the past.

The Donley County Gin had ginned 300 bales of cotton as of Monday, Shields said.