Cattle producers may not be considering the use of cotton gin trash as a part of their feeding regime, but that could change due to the results of a recent research trial at Oklahoma State University. Andrea Warner, animal science graduate student, conducted a research trial alongside animal science faculty members Andrew Foote, Blake Wilson, and Paul Beck investigating the use of cotton byproducts in feedlot diets. Warner is originally from Penn Valley, California. She started conducting research at Chico State University while pursuing her bachelor’s degree in animal science. “As an undergraduate, I started working at the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center,” Warner said. “I started doing beef cattle research there and decided that’s what I wanted to keep doing.” When choosing where she wanted to pursue her master’s degree, it was her interest in beef production that led her to Oklahoma State University, Warner said. She plans to pursue a career in the beef cattle industry because of her love for working with producers and hopes to continue to advance the industry, she added. Warner received the opportunity to organize and conduct a research project when a research station in Arkansas had beef cattle that needed to be finished, said Beck.
CATTLE CONSUMING COTTON 14
SPRING 2020
“She worked with us on putting together the finishing diets for these cattle,” Beck said. “We did a production trial looking at the effects of the cotton byproducts and cotton gin trash on performance and carcass characteristics.” There is an abundance of cotton byproducts available to producers due to the increase in cotton acreage in the southwestern United States, Warner said.
