The production of cotton is considered complete when it has been picked up from the the plant, but it is not in a useable form. The seeds must be removed and the fibers packed in a bale before selling to the cotton mills. The picked cotton contains about 66% seeds, 33% cotton fibers and small amounts of leaf and dirt. The separation of seeds and fibers is carried out by a process called ginning. This is considered as the first mill processing of cotton as this is the first mechanical process to which raw cotton is put, if it is not picked by machine. The complete ginning process consists of preliminary cleaning and drying of cotton, separation of seeds from fibers, which are sometimes called cotton lint or linters, and pressing and wrapping into a bale of about 500 lbs.
Ginning-Cotton preliminary cleaned
