Millions of acres of cotton grow across the Southern United States

1

• Millions of acres of cotton grow across the
  Southern United States

2

• Cotton Pickers or Brush Strippers move through
  the cotton field harvesting cotton off six or
  eight rows of cotton at a time. The cotton is
  stored in baskets above the harvester and then
  dumped into a cotton trailer when the basket is
  full.

3

• The cotton is transferred from the cotton
  trailers to a module builder.

4

• The module builder compresses the cotton to form
  a module (compactly pressed block) of cotton. 
• A module holds 12-14
• bales of cotton.

5

• The modules are hauled to a cotton gin or to the
  gins storage yard by a module mover.

6

• The cotton fiber is separated from the cottonseed
  at the gin. The cotton is vacuumed into tubes
  that carry it to a dryer to reduce moisture and
  improve the fiber quality. Cleaning equipment
  removes leaf trash, sticks and other foreign
  matter.

7

• The seed is sent to a cottonseed oil mill where
  it is processed.

8

• The fiber (or lint) is compressed into bales,
  banded with eight steel straps, sampled for
  classing or grading, wrapped for protection then
  loaded onto trucks for shipment to storage yards,
  or textile mills. 

9

• Cotton bales are 55 inches tall, 28 inches wide,
  and 21 inches thick, and weigh around 500
  pounds. One bale is enough cotton to make 325
  pairs of jeans. 

10

• Textile mills purchase cotton bales from gins or
  cotton warehouses.  The mills start with raw
  cotton and process it in stages until it produces
  yarn fibers twisted into threads used in weaving
  of cloth. The cloth is dyed and cleaned, and
  shipped to clothing producers.