cottonseed meal

Cottonseed meal is a high protein by-product from the extraction of oil from whole cottonseed. There are two different processing methods used to extract the oil from the cottonseed, and they differ in the amount of oil (fat) they leave in the meal. The amount of oil left in the meal affects its energy value. Cottonseed meal is palatable and commonly is used in cattle rations in the southern and western U.S. Solvent extracted cottonseed meal is the more common of the two types and has about 89 percent of the energy value of 44 percent protein soybean meal. Cottonseed meal contains gossypol. Under typical conditions, though, even high-producing cows will not consume enough cottonseed meal to suffer from gossypoltoxicity. Cottonseed meal is used as a protein supplement and can replace all of the soybean meal in the ration.