Cottonseed meal is the byproduct remaining after cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 is ginned

Cotton gin

A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job formerly performed painstakingly by hand...

 and the seeds crushed and the oil

Cottonseed oil

Cottonseed oil is a cooking oil extracted from the seeds of cotton plant of various species, mainly Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium herbaceum...

 extracted. The remaining meal is usually used for animal feed

Fodder

Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...

 and in organic fertilizers. However, the meal can be fed only to adult ruminants because it contains a compound called gossypol

Gossypol

Gossypol is a natural phenol derived from the cotton plant . Gossypol is a phenolic aldehyde that permeates cells and acts as an inhibitor for several dehydrogenase enzymes. It is a yellow pigment....

. The compound is highly toxic to monogastrics and even sometimes to calves which are really "pre-ruminants" in terms of their developing digestive systems.