Jack Daniel’s has left Tennessee farmers high and dry after announcing an end to its cheap cow feed program that will now be given to a green energy company instead.
The whiskey company said it will terminate their Cow Feeder Program starting March 31 after taking on a new partnership with Three Rivers Energy, a Michigan-based company.
The program, which has been in place for 45 years, provides cattle farmers with ‘slop,’ or corn byproduct, to feed to their cows at little to no cost.
But now, the leftover feed, which is created from used distillers’ grain and water at the company’s Lynchburg facility, will be turned into fertilizer and renewable fuel by the energy firm.
Panic has quickly set in across Moore county and surrounding areas as farmers have frantically been lining up at the crack of dawn to sell their cattle for money since they can’t afford to feed them anymore.
Over the past month, cattle auctions have been at an all time high with some of them lasting eight to nine hours because of the influx.
‘Farmers for the past three or four weeks have been selling a lot of cattle that normally they may keep a little while,’ Josh Woodward, an auction official, told WTVF.
‘To lose that in a community like this, it’s detrimental to the future of our country. We have to supply our own food. It’s important to keep these folks around.’
Jack Daniel’s announced it will end its ‘Cow Feeder Program’ starting March 31 as the whiskey company has partnered with Michigan-based firm Three Rivers Energy. (Pictured: Stock image)
Josh Woodward, an auction official, said the cattle auctions have been at an all time high because of the major announcement
Local auction participant and farmer Kevin Demastus explained just how much the cut off of the feed program has affected the community.
‘They have more slaughter cows every week than anywhere I go, just because there’s so many farmers feeding slop to these cows,’ he said.
And although auction houses are seeing high numbers right now, industry experts predict the surge will die down and people will give up farming altogether.
‘It’s really gonna affect this part of the world where the slop is,’ Demastus explained. ‘There will be a lot of them who quit.’
For some residents, the program is more than just a way to keep their cattle fed.
Danny Anderson, 56, said they have been using the byproduct from Jack Daniel’s for years – so much so that it has become a tradition in his family.
‘I can remember when I was probably 8 or 9 years old, going with my grandfather to get it. … Back then, we hauled it in old milk cans,’ Anderson told Tennessee Lookout.
Anderson said when he initially took over the operation on the 207-acre farm, he used a 1,000-gallon tank to transport the feed.
He later went on to upgrade to a truck with a four-gallon tank, where he paid less than $9 for each load, the farmer told the outlet.
Farmers have since resorted to standing on long auction lines to sell their cattle for money since they can’t afford to feed them without the program. (Pictured: File photo)
The feed is made with used distillers’ grain and water at the company’s Lynchburg facility (pictured)
But now, Anderson won’t be able to financially keep up with the cost of slop.
He typically hauls about 185,000 gallons of cattle food each month, but starting this month, Jack Daniel’s said it will reduce his allotment to 144,000 gallons.
By January it will be reduced to 43,200 gallons before he is cut off completely at the end of March.
The whiskey company’s new partnership with Three Rivers Energy requires the distiller to deliver 350,000 to 50,000 gallons of its spent grain each day, which is Jack Daniel’s entire volume.
‘This decision follows years of careful consideration and was communicated with advance notice, starting with our initial announcement back in March 2022,’ a Jack Daniel’s spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
‘Through the company’s new partnership, it ‘allows us to achieve key environmental standards and secure the future of our brand, ensuring our continued ability to market and sell Jack Daniel’s globally,’ they added.
‘We understand this change is significant, and we remain dedicated to our neighbors as we all adapt to this new era.’
Local auction participant and farmer Kevin Demastus said many farmers will ditch the practice as a whole because of the change
According to Anderson, the final decision was made by Brown-Forman, the corporate owner of Jack Daniel’s.
He showed a bit of compassion for the people who had to break the horrible news to farmers like him who depend on the program.
‘I think Jack Daniel’s here in little old Lynchburg is getting a bad rep for it, because the people that run Jack Daniel’s here had to come out and tell the farmers, “Hey, look, this is over”,’ Anderson said.
In the meantime, the community has been looking elsewhere to see if there is a possible, low cost solution to keep the cattle fed in the area.
Representatives with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) held a meeting last week to discuss possible solutions for farmers.
Andrew Griffith, a livestock marking specialist at the school, said that although not all cattle consumes slop in the Moore County area, ‘the big percentage of them are.’
Farmers can also feed their cattle hay or create their own blend of crops, including soybean meal and corn.
