For many years, cotton was compacted by a "cotton tromper" who literally tromped the cotton down by foot as it was weighed and dumped by the field boss and picker. This continued quite some time after mechanical pickers to be replaced by a tractor mounted ram that tamped it down. Being a "tromper" seemed like fun at first, but was extremely tiring. Cotton was transported in specialized cotton trailers pulled by tractor or truck depending on the farmer and distance to the gin which there were many.
At the gin, it was taken out by a hand operated "suck", basically a large vacuum hose, also a very tiring job. Once the cotton was processed with the seeds and dirt removed, it was compressed into bales. These bales were then sent to a "cotton compress" where the bales were "compressed" into even more tightly compacted, heavier bales. It was often stored there whether by the owner or farmer who paid a storage fee and sold when prices were optimum.
I worked in the heart of cotton country and had access to all the production facilities and watched the change in technology. My first visit to a compress was an eye opener as they were steam operated at the time with open pits and giant rams with no surrounding protection and sometimes the workers would ride the ram down into the pit.
My last visit to a cotton company was several years ago and was pretty much all automated with only a few workers.