This year, first cotton bale contest won in Nueces County

In its way, it may have been a bigger upset than A&M over ‘Bama.

This year for the first time in at least six decades — really as far back as anyone can remember — the first bale of cotton did not come from the Rio Grande Valley.

A combination of early-season drought followed by excessive rainfall pushed back cotton planting in the Valley, and Priestly Farms near Robstown took advantage by picking the nation’s first cotton bale on July 18.

Walter Priestly, who farms with the father-son team of Larry and Chris Hellman, was gentlemanly in his assessment of their accomplishment.

“That’s always been reserved for producers in the Rio Grande Valley because they plant ahead of us,” Priestly told Southwest Farm Press. “The only reason we were able to get in there and do this is because they faced significant weather challenges.”

“It’s not that we created an opportunity; the weather took the opportunity away from our friends and neighbors to the south,” he added. “If we could do it all over again, I’d rather them have normal weather and a first bale.”

Priestly’s generosity of spirit didn’t end with that statement. He and the Hellmans donated the cotton to the First Bale Auction and Scholarship Fundraiser in Harlingen, and last month its sale helped raise a record $20,500 for scholarships at Southern Careers Institute.

“Because of cool weather and not growing well early, all that rain is what really delayed it,” said Webb Wallace, executive director of the Cotton and Grain Producers of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. “It’s the first time in a long time — the first time ever the first cotton didn’t come from the Valley.”

Priestly and other farmers in Nueces County and the Coastal Bend area had their own weather problems, primarily with excessive rainfall later in the season.

“I think he was trying to be very gracious,” said Jeff Nunley, executive director of the South Texas Cotton and Grain Association based in Victoria. “It was one of those things where a lot of our crop was late this year and I think the Valley cotton crop was late as well because of the rain.”

“He must have had a field that was on a high, sandy spot that did well with the rain but it matured early enough that they were watching that field and they’re like, ‘You now, we may pick the first bale.’ So they got in and did it and ginned it at the King Ranch, and it was the first bale in the nation.”

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