Cotton GinTrash Feeding Amid Feed Scarcity in Sheep and Factors Driving Inclusion in the Yarn Spinning Industrial Cluster of Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Cotton gin trash (CGT) is composed of fibre residues, leaves, dust particles, soil, and other materials derived during the ginning and yarn-spinning process in processing industries. In the cotton-spinning industrial clusters, farmers are using CGT as one of the alternative roughage feeds for their sheep, mainly during forage shortages in the summer months. Baseline information on farmers using gin and the factors driving them to choose CGT as a roughage source needs to be identified for future planning regarding the usage of CGT in sheep feeding. Considering the above facts, the present study was undertaken to assess the socio-personal characteristics and managemental practices associated with farmers using cotton gin in the feeding of sheep; also, it was conducted to identify the factors driving the choice of the CGT as the primary source of roughage in the cotton-spinning industry cluster of Tamil Nadu, India. For this, a survey among 80 sheep farmers was carried out using a pre-tested interview schedule. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logit regression. The results indicated that the majority of male, aged, and large-land farmers were involved in practicing CGT feeding during the summer and also indicated the non-availability of green fodder during the same period of time. The coarse type of CGT is preferred over the fine type of CGT trash in that area due to quality perception and price. The replacement level of CGT as roughage ranged from 33 to 75% of the total roughage requirement per day. About 88% of farmers were highly satisfied with the results of using CGT and they also expressed that the presence of foreign particles and dust was the major problem with using CGT. The choice of CGT as primary roughage among sheep farmers was primarily influenced by selective farming contexts, namely, landholding, access to labour, and the feeding practices of other livestock with cotton gin. Furthermore, research needs to be focused on improving the quality of CGT in the future as it is being utilised largely by sheep farmers.

1. Introduction

In India, the livestock industry acts as a beacon of hope for a large proportion of small and marginal farmers. Sheep and goat-rearing activities are important livelihood options, especially in areas where crop and dairy farming face challenges. The total sheep population in India is 74.26 million, as per the 2019 livestock census, and it increased by 14.1% since the previous census period of 2012. The rearing of small ruminants is limited in terms of the constraints associated with health, feed resources, and marketing. In particular, livestock, including sheep, suffer from a 36% shortage of green fodder; estimates suggest that the deficits of green fodder and dry fodder in 2025 are likely to be 65% and 25%, respectively [1,2,3,4]. This situation drives the sheep farmers to look for alternative feed resources. The usage of unconventional feed resources has increased in livestock farming over the years due to a lack of grazing lands and poor rainfall, which has resulted in an acute shortage of feed and fodder. On account of feed costs and the food and feed crisis, by-products offer advantages to farmers. The by-products are generally cheaper than conventional feedstuffs. Therefore, farmers can include by-products in animal diets if the by-products support acceptable animal performances [5,6]. As a result, farmers save money by using a less expensive by-product. The residues from crops and by-products are being used in livestock feeding on account of their availability, cost, and nutritional characteristics, such as lignin and carbohydrates and protein [7,8].

One of the emerging industrial by-products is CGT (Cotton Gin Trash) from the cotton–yarn–spinning industries. Across the globe, the cotton-cultivated area accounted for 32.10 million hectares and production accounted for 258 million bales (one bale is 170 kg) between the years 2020 and 2021 [9]; the overall cotton production was 438.6 billion kg. In India, the area under cotton cultivation was 12.1 million hectares, with a productivity of 445 kg/hectare; the overall production of cotton was 36.2 million bales (6.15 billion kg) during the 2020–2021 period [10]. Out of this production, 28.8 million bales of cotton (4.89 billion kg) were used by textile mills in India during the 2020–2021period [10].

During the process of separating cotton fibres from cotton seed and spinning, one such by-product created is CGT [11]. Thus, it is a by-product in cotton value chain industries, particularly in the ginning and spinning processes, along with cottonseed, cottonseed meal, and cottonseed hulls. The majority of the cotton gin waste was disposed of by spreading it on the ground, composting it, feeding it to animals, placing it in landfills, burning it, turning it into energy, creating pellets for stove fuel from it, utilising it as a building material, and using it as insulation [12]. Because of its origin from plants and its existence as a source of protein, fat, and fibre, CGT has the potential to be included in cattle diets as an alternative feed [13]; it is being utilised to meet the energy and protein requirements of sheep and is used in many parts of the world [14]. This material is a complex mixture of woody fragments of cotton bolls, stalks, knotted cotton fibre residues, mulched leaves, soil, and dust particles [15]. Although CGT is low in protein and energy content, it is a source of physically effective fibre and has the potential to be a more economical option for sheep farmers than traditional roughage [16]. However, the nutrient composition of cotton gin trash also varies widely [17]. Its nutritive value is almost comparable with that of other used roughage sources. CGT has crude protein levels of 7 to 14% [16,17]. The availability of CGT in selective parts of the Tamil Nadu state of India drives the farmers to take advantage and use it as feed material in Mecheri sheep breeding tracts in Tamil Nadu. The cotton consumption by textile factories in India is the highest in Tamil Nadu; hence, the waste output is also significant. Tamil Nadu generates cotton gin waste in the range of 250 to 995 lakh kg per year [18]. In this state, predominantly two types of CGT are available, namely, Kotta panju and Micro waste panju. Kotta panju is of a dark brown colour with a mix of seed remnants and other materials; meanwhile, Micro waste panju is white in nature and with fewer dust particles and other materials. Farmers rearing the Mecheri breed of sheep in the Karur and Tirupur districts are using both types of CGT as a roughage supplement feed for their sheep, mainly during forage shortages in the summer months. There is an abundant availability of CGT due to the greater number of spinning and ginning industries that are predominantly located in the Karur and Tirupur districts [18,19]. Previously, as a waste product, CGT was often of no cost to purchase, other than the costs associated with transportation and hauling. However, now it is being sold at a rate of INR (Indian National Rupees)USD 0.10 to 0.25 per kg (USD 1 = INR 82) since the demand is increasing among the sheep farmers continuously. Only a few reports are available in India on utilising cotton gins as a feed source for sheep. Furthermore, the inclusion level varies with the farmers in and around the Mecheri sheep breeding tract. Field observation suggested wide variation in dependence on gin as a roughage source across sheep farming households. There has been limited information on its use as feed in small ruminant production, limiting its full potential as a feed resource. To address the above research gap, this study aimed to document the nature of farmers using CGT, their nutritional characteristics and also test the hypothesis that selected farming contexts, social conditions, and livestock farming practices influence the choice of CGT as primary roughage in sheep feeding. The above research objective and hypothesis were framed with the anticipation that it will be helpful to understand the status quo of CGT feeding and may also have potential application in the selection of target populations to promote CGT or similar non-conventional feed resources in animal feeding.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Description of Study Area

To address the above research question, the researchers purposefully selected Tiruppur and Karur districts, which are one of the primary hubs of textile industries (ginning, yarn spinning, weaving, processing, and textile manufacturing) within Tamil Nadu as well as in India. In these two districts, around 90 ginning and spinning mills operate and produce cotton gin trash as a by-product of the industry. The authors were unable to collate information on overall cotton processing since there was a scarcity of information on the capacities of these industries. However, past studies suggest that ginning one bale (170 kg) of cotton produces between 27 and 110 kg of cotton gin waste and the variability of CGT is due to variety of cotton, origin, stage of harvest, and industrial process to extract yarn [20,21].

In these two districts, the use of cotton gin waste for feeding sheep has been reported from 2016 onwards, while feeding of cattle started around the late 2000s. Until then, this trash’s utility potential as compost for agricultural crops and raw materials for building materials was explored and utilised to an extent. Currently, these districts have 45 suppliers of cotton gin trash in addition to the local retailer(s) who are trading gin with sheep farmers in the study area. These suppliers handle around 75 to 100 tonnes per year (mostly during the summer period from mid-March to mid-August). These cotton gin trash bags are sold as 50 kg bags or as a bale of 170 kg to the farmers. The choice of cotton gin as an alternative feed resource during the summer has been well established within the farming community through their own learning, and these two districts are net importers of cotton gin trash from other spinning clusters in Rajapalayam and Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.

2.2. Selection of Farmers for Survey

To understand the farmers’ nature and factors driving the inclusion, a sample of 80 sheep farmers, who are using CGT in sheep feeding, were identified through snowfall sampling techniques. The surveyed farmers were distributed in Karur (20 farmers in each block of K. Paramathi and Aravakurichi) and Tiruppur districts (20 farmers in each block of Vellakoil and Kangayam) of Tamil Nadu, India (Figure 1).

2.3. Data Collection

The selected farmers were interviewed on the usage pattern of cotton gins; their socio-personal and farming factors were recorded through a pre-tested interview schedule. Specifically, the level of dependence on cotton gin (as a primary/secondary source of roughage), their socio-personal characteristics such as age, gender, education, occupation, experience, etc., farming contexts such as land holding and flock size, and livestock farming practices such as grazing, feeding, etc., were collected. The above socio-personal characteristics were selected from the past systematic reviews on factors influencing the adoption of livestock farming technologies [22,23] and further finalised with the support of experts for the relationship analysis. To cross check the collected information and for better understanding, ‘focus group’ discussions were carried out with stakeholders.

2.4. Determination of Nutritive Value of Cotton Gin Trash

For determination of the nutritive value of cotton gin trash, total 6 units of each predominantly used coarse (Kotta panju) and fine (Micro waste panju) types of cotton gin trash samples were collected from the study area. The nutritive value of both types of samples was determined through analysis of the chemical composition, in vitro apparent dry matter digestibility (IVADMD) and gossypol estimation in the cotton gin trash samples. The cotton gin trash samples were analysed for moisture, dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF), calcium and phosphorus as per well-established procedure no. 930.15, 984.13, 2003.06, 962.09, 927.02 965.17of AOAC 2012, respectively [24]. The total ash and acid insoluble ash were estimated by IS 14827-2000, IS 14826-2000 [25,26]. The results were expressed as percentages on a dry matter basis. The micro minerals like copper, iron and manganese were estimated using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer as per the procedure outlined in the reference manual (Perkin Elmer Model 3110).In vitro degradability of cotton gin trash was assessed as per standardized procedure [27].

2.5. Statistical Analysis

The collected survey data were analysed with descriptive and relationship statistics (student’s t test and logit regression) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16) with eight variables, namely, gender, education, land holding, flock size, grazing duration, method of feeding gin and practice of feeding to other livestock, and availability of labour, were modeled in this study as detailed in Figure 2 to understand the elements influencing the choice of cotton gin trash as primary roughage.

Based on the conceptualization, binary logistic regression was used to understand the causal factors that influence the usage of cotton gin as the primary/secondary source of roughage. In logistic regression, if a farmer used CGT as primary source of roughage (>50% of conventional roughage replaced with CGT), the farmer was coded as 1and farmers using as a secondary source of roughage (<50% of conventional roughage replaced with CGT) as 0. The logit model was as follows:

Cotton gin usage status = β0 + β1 x1 + β2 x2 + […] + βn xn where: x1, x2, x3 […] xn represent independent variables as depicted in the model; β0 = constant; β1, β2 are logistic variables; regression coefficients (estimates); secondary source of roughage= 0; (≤0) primary source of roughage = 1, (>0).

3. Results

Socio-Economic Status of the Sheep Farmers

Socioeconomic characteristics of farmers feeding CGT in the study area are presented in

Table 1. Socio-personal and farming characteristics of sheep farmers.

Variables	Definition	Mean ± Standard Deviation
Age	Chronological age of farmers in years	50.33 ± 9.38
Education	Number of years of formal education	9.60 ± 3.76
Gender	Women managed farms coded as 1; otherwise as 0	0.04 ± 0.19
Experience	Number of years of experience in sheep farming	24.25 ± 10.42
Landholding	Land owned by sheep farmers (in acres)	16.04 ± 6.38
Occupation	Sheep farming as primary occupation coded as -2; sheep farming withagriculture—1 and sheep farming with non-farm sector as 0	0.96 ± 0.40
Income from sheep	Refers to annual net income from sheep farming (in USD)	1871.95 ± 548.78
Flock size	Total number of sheep in the household	65.85 ± 22.95
Grazing duration	Number of hours of sheep grazed in a day	9.17 ± 1.05
Access to labour	No challenges in accessing labour force for farming activities—0; otherwise, as 1	0.18 ± 0.38
Years of feeding	Number of years of feeding cotton gin for sheep	2.48 ± 1.51
Feeding method	Soaking in water and feeding coded as 1; otherwise as 0	0.79 ± 0.41
Type of gin	Coarse CGT coded as 1; fine type as 0	0.64 ± 0.48
Challenge in gin feeding	Farmers reporting foreign particles and dust in CGT as 1; otherwise as 0	0.59 ± 0.50
Price	Price per kilogram of cotton gin trash (in USD)	0.17 ± 0.05
Feeding to cow	Feeding CGT to cow as 1; otherwise as 0	0.64 ± 0.48
Level of replacement	Level of replacement refers to inclusion of CGT in percentages as an alternative to conventional roughages on dry matter basis	50.67 ± 8.76

and Figure 3. The results indicated that, in the study area, 96% of the sheep farmers were male and had an average age of 50. These farmers had 10 years of formal education and 24 years of sheep farming experience.

These farmers, on average, owned 16 acres of land, which is mostly rain-fed and had poor-quality soil. Furthermore, they had an average sheep population of 66 animals. Nearly 84% of sheep farmers had agriculture as their primary occupation, and 6%farmers had sheep farming as their primary occupation. The remaining sheep farmers had the non-farm sector as their primary occupation. The farmers allowed their animals to graze on their land for an average duration of 9 h during the day. The sheep population in the study area is a non-migratory sheep population of Tamil Nadu. About 18% of farmers reported challenges in mobilising the necessary labour force for grazing and other sheep farming related activities. Their main occupation was agriculture along with sheep farming, and they earned an annual income of USD 1872 (INR 153,000) per year from sheep farming. All the farmers have provided shelter to their sheep during the night, with the majority of sheds having an earthen floor, fence, and roof.

All the farmers were using CGT as a roughage source during fodder scarcity, particularly in the summer. Furthermore, it indicated that the sheep farmers are utilising CGT as a feeding resource since the number of ginning factories and textile factories is higher in their area. Nearly 64% of sheep farmers preferred the coarse type of CGT, and the remaining used the fine type of CGT (Figure 4 and Figure 5) due to quality perception and price variances. The majority (63.75%) of the farmers were feeding CGT to their cows in addition to their sheep. About 88% of farmers were highly satisfied and 11% with CGT as a feeding material and the remaining were not satisfied. All the surveyed farmers had a practice of feeding either commercial concentrate or homemade concentrate feed in addition to CGT.

The inclusion of CGT as a replacement for conventional roughage (sorghum and groundnut haulms) varied among farmers. More than one-fifth (21%) of farmers replaced >50% of conventional roughage with CGT, and the remaining had less than 50%. The average replacement of roughage was 51% on a dry matter basis. The study also found that CGT has foreign particles of both metallic and non-metallic nature (Figure 6), and the sheep farmers were manually removing the foreign particles or using magnets to remove the foreign particles (Figure 7).

Furthermore, about 79% of farmers practiced feeding CGT after soaking it for 2 to 3 h in water. These sheep farmers have an average experience of 2.5 years (ranging from 4 months to 6 years) in feeding CGT. Thus, feeding CGT is relatively new among sheep farmers. The farmers paid an average price of USD 0.17/kg(price range: USD 0.10 to 0.27). All the farmers were highly satisfied with using CGT and had not noticed any health issues related to feeding CGT to their sheep. The discussion with progressive farmers revealed that CGT feeding farmers obtained weights of 10 to 12 kg among lambs at the age 3 months. At the age of 8 to 10 months (marketing age), rams and ewes weighed 25 to 30 kg and 22 to 25 kg, respectively.

Furthermore, in order to understand the nutritional characteristics and to corroborate the perception of farmers, researchers evaluated coarse and fine cotton gin trash samples and found that the coarse and fine types had 90 and 92% dry matter content, respectively. This reflected in the moisture content of both, which differs significantly at the p < 0.05 level (

Table 2. Chemical composition (%) of cotton gin trash samples.

Particulars		Mean± SE	p Value
	Coarse Type Cotton Gin Trash (Kotta Panju)	Fine Type Cotton Gin Trash (Micro Waste Panju)
Proximate composition
Moisture	10.13 ± 0.57	7.87 ± 0.25	0.030
Crude protein	14.15 ± 0.62	13.64 ± 0.30	0.444
Crude fibre	38.02 ± 1.66	40.28 ± 1.78	0.408
Ether extract	4.06 ± 0.77	3.96 ± 0.33	0.763
Total ash	7.01 ± 0.45	8.03 ± 0.65	0.209
Gross energy (kcal/Kg)	3787 ± 25.31	3765 ± 66.29	0.766
Acid insoluble ash	1.36 ± 0.26	0.73 ± 0.15	0.093
Mineral profile
Calcium	1.23 ± 0.15	1.24 ± 0.09	0.970
Phosphorous	0.38 ± 0.08	0.56 ± 0.04	0.012
Iron	0.23 ± 0.11	0.21 ± 0.03	0.618
Manganese (ppm)	148.26 ± 4 1.58	390.00 ± 77.01	0.012
Copper (ppm)	21.19 ± 3.69	27.21 ± 1.95	0.124
Fibre fractions
NDF	65.52 ± 2.31	64.18 ± 2.36	0.017
ADF	50.14 ± 2.09	48.98 ± 1.63	0.001
Cellulose	23.64 ± 0.54	24.51 ± 0.99	0.788
Hemicellulose	15.20 ± 0.76	15.38 ± 0.49	0.652
Lignin	15.67 ± 0.76	18.00 ± 0.25	0.032
In vitro apparent dry matter digestibility (IVADMD)
At 12 h incubation time	30.80 ± 0.29	27.55 ± 0.30	0.001
At 24 h incubation time	39.11 ± 0.92	32.58 ± 0.61	0.001
Gossypol (ppm)
Gossypol level	1.970 ± 1.17	0.658 ± 0.22	0.299

Number of samples analyzed—coarse type 6 numbers and fine type 6 numbers.

) Furthermore, specific nutritional qualities such as crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract, acid insoluble ash and gross energy parameters were high in coarse samples, there were no significant difference between coarse and fine cotton gin trash samples. The results of the mineral profile revealed that phosphorous and manganese in fine cotton gin trash samples were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than the level in coarse cotton gin trash samples. However, the in vitro apparent dry matter digestibility (IVADMD) of coarse trash was better than fine at a significant level (p < 0.01). At the same time, lignin content was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in fine samples compared with coarse cotton gin trash.

To understand the factors influencing the choice of CGT as a primary or secondary source of roughage, researchers have included eight explanatory variables in the regression model due to limitations in the sample size (

Table 3. Estimated coefficients of logistic regression for factors influencing the usage of CGT as a primary source of roughage (n = 80).

Predictor Variables	Estimated Coefficient	Standard Error	Odds Ratio #
Gender	0.937	1.475	2.551
Education	−0.12	0.103	0.887
Landholding	0.21	0.08	1.234 **
Flock size	−0.074	0.025	0.929 **
Grazing duration	0.491	0.415	1.633
Feeding of cotton gin to cattle	−1.588	0.783	0.204 *
Access to labour	2.243	0.88	9.421 *
Feeding method	1.343	1.04	3.83
Constant	−4.519	4.457	0.011

Pseudo R² = 0.467; Log likelihood = 54.11; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05. ^# Increased/decreased odds of using CGT as primary source of roughage from a unit increase in the variable.

). The bi-nominal logit regression model, which tested the significance of the predictor variables, found that the model is significant (at a 1% level of probability with a Chi-square value of 28.65). This estimated model correctly classified 78% of the farmers using CGT as primary roughage. The conceptualised variables, namely gender, education, land, flock size, grazing hours, feeding of gin to cattle, feeding method, and labour availability, explained about 46.7% (Pseudo R² = 0.467) of the variance in the usage of CGT (as a primary or secondary roughage source) among the farmers. The remaining variance (53.4%) may be due to other attributes that have not been identified by this research work. Even though many variables explained variance, land size (p < 0.01) and access to labour force (p < 0.01) positively influenced the odds of using CGT as a primary source of roughage.

For one unit change in land holdings and access to labour force, the estimated odds of using CGT as a primary source of roughage (Odds ratio) are multiplied by 1.23 and 9.42, respectively. While flock size (p < 0.01) and the practice of feeding CGT to cattle (p < 0.05) negatively influence the odds of inclusion as a primary source of roughage.

4. Discussion

The socio-personal and economic characteristics of farmers and landholdings of sheep farmers in cotton gin trash feeding areas were in line with the observations of other researchers [28,29] except for land holdings. The land holdings of sheep farmers were 16 acres, compared to the landholding size of around 2.5 acres for livestock farmers [30,31]. Even though farmers’ landholdings were large, the land in the study area has limited underground water resources and is located in poor monsoon and drought-prone districts of Tamil Nadu [32,33]. Thus, economic returns from cropping were limited, and farmers needed to rely on subsidiary activities such as sheep rearing in the study area.

The flock size in the study area ranged from 32 to 120, similar to other parts of India [34] where non-migratory sheep farming activities are carried out. These sheep owners grazed their animals for over nine hours in their grazing land referred to as Korangadu (a traditional unique pasture land system in rain-fed areas), where they grazed their sheep [35,36,37]. The Korangadu is a rich source of Cenchrus Ciliaris as fodder, which animals rely on as a feed source. The duration of grazing on these grazing lands is more than 9 h, which is almost similar to other parts of India where non-migratory sheep farmers have similar practices [4].

In addition to grazing, there is a practice of supplementing roughages and concentrates at the shelter. Thus, sheep rearing in the study area was more of a semi-intensive nature. Furthermore, the housing practices of farmers in the study area, with the prime purpose of providing shelter in the night hours, reflect the pattern in other parts of India. In specific, this study’s findings are line with the observations of researchers in India [35,36,37]. Thus, overall, the socio-personal characteristics, farm characteristics, and managemental practices of sheep farmers in cotton gin feeding areas are similar to those of other areas of India.

CGT is used as a roughage source during times of fodder scarcity, particularly in the summer, may be attributed to its nutritional characteristics as a source of protein and energy [38,39] and the use of non-conventional feed resources in periods of feed scarcity for animal feeding. Tapping of non-conventional feed resource CGT in the study area during scarcity in animal feeding is in concurrence with past studies in various parts of India where similar coping mechanisms have been adopted during monsoon failures/feed scarcity [40,41,42]. The coarse type of CGT was the choice against fine type CGT on account of perceived nutritional qualities. The farmers perceived that the presence of seed residues in coarse trash improves the nutritional quality, and usage of the same has increased the average daily weight gain (ADG). The findings are in line with the laboratory analysis which revealed a low level of lignin and better in vitro digestibility. Recent studies on CGT supplementation in sheep feed demonstrated that an ADG of up to 105 gms/day can be obtained despite being consumed withno harm to the animals [43,44].

The farmers’ observations on animal performance and communication of the same during farmer-to-farmer interactions have resulted in coarse trash being the popular choice among farmers. Furthermore, nutritional analysis of two types of CGT revealed that coarse CGT was richer in nutrients. In addition to this, in the study area, widespread usage of CGT for cows has also been noticed in addition to sheep, which may be due to the viable nature of CGT if supplemented with the required concentrate and fodder [45,46]. In the study area, the farmers initially experimented with cotton gin as cattle feed and then scaled up to the practice of feeding cotton gin to sheep. At the same time, the majority of farmers reported that the CGT has foreign and dusty materials that need to be handled with precaution. Researchers reported that the presence of foreign materials in cotton gin trash is very common [13], but farmers perceived that there were no health risks associated with CGT feeding, which is in concurrence with past experimental evidence [47,48,49,50,51]. This may be due to the farmer’s practice of segregating foreign bodies either using magnets or through a manual process using hands. At the same time, there was wide variation in replacing the conventional roughages in sheep feeding. This variation may be due to differences among by-products, transport costs, storage, moisture content, nutrient composition, availability, and possible contaminants [13,47,52,53].

In addition to the role of nutritional factors, contaminants and transport costs influence inclusion. Furthermore, this study observed that farming contexts such as landholding and farm labour shortages positively influenced the level of inclusion, where as flock size and feeding other livestock negatively influenced the level of inclusion. A similar observation also reported that resources such as land have a positive influence on the adoption of feeding practices in dairy farming [41].This study, too, found that the inclusion level was positively determined by land. This may be due to the affordability of farmers with higher land resources to spend on their enterprises compared to farmers with poor landholdings. Furthermore, farmers with land holdings may be primarily focused on crop related activities and may have limitations in the allocation of land and labour force for grazing. These may be reasons for more dependence on CGT among large landholding farmers. At the same time, this study found that flock size and feeding CGT to cattle negatively influenced the inclusion level. This may be due to the fact that large-flock farmers may be hesitating to make recurring expenditures on feed and may rely on grazing resources to meet the requirement. Furthermore, in the case of small flocks, farmers had better judgement to meet their feeding requirements compared to larger flocks. These may be the reasons for restricting the use of CGT in feeding among large flock owners. Added to that, farmers with cattle may prioritise feed resource utilization based on the nature/scale of returns from the activity. The cattle provide daily income through the sale of milk and higher returns, while in the case of sheep, farmers need to wait for 8 to 10 months to fetch returns through the sale of animals for meat. Thus, there is a tradeoff in the usage of CGT between dairy animals and sheep in the study area. This factor limits the feeding of CGT to sheep. Thus, farms that practice feeding CGT to cattle and have large sheep flocks are less likely to use cotton gin as primary roughage. Overall, the elements included in the regression model explained about 47% of the variance on inclusion level (extent of use as a primary or secondary source of roughage), and the remaining variance may be due to perceived nutritional quality over the existing resources, access to CGT, contaminants, farmer’s knowledge, psychological behaviour [54,55,56,57], which was not studied on account of the nature of the collected data, which limits further statistical exploration. This needs to be explored in future research.

5. Conclusions

To sum up, the study makes an attempt to understand the utilization pattern of CGT and the factors influencing the farmers to choose CGT as the primary source of roughage in the industrial cluster of cotton processing industries using survey techniques. Analysis of the data collected during the survey revealed that CGT is used as feeding material during the summer as a replacement for conventional roughage. The coarse type of CGT was the choice of farmers on account of its perceived nutritional quality and its ability to promote weight gain. The sheep farmers are very satisfied with the use of CGT, as an alternative feed during the times of scarcity. Furthermore, farmers reported the presence of forgiven materials and removed them using magnets/manually. Overall, farmers perceived that there were not many health issues with feeding CGT. However, the replacement level of roughage varied widely among the farmers. The farming contexts of households and livestock farming practises have influenced the choice of CGT as the primary source of roughage. The choice of CGT as feed, the perception of farmers on quality, level of inclusion, and methods to segregate foreign and dust particles need to be scientifically validated and standardised in the future, as they are being utilised largely by sheep farmers.