Brown-Forman winding down stillage program

7:44 p.m. Sept. 17, 2025

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

For generations, the familiar sight of tankers hauling stillage – known locally as “slop” – from Jack Daniel Distillery to farms across Moore County has been part of daily life. Farmers have relied on it as a steady, low-cost feed source for their cattle.

That tradition will soon fade into history.

On Monday, Sept. 15, farmers were informed that allotments of slop will be reduced starting Oct. 1. A second round of reductions will follow on Jan. 1, 2026, and the program will officially end March 31, 2026. Some farmers will have their allotment reduced to a flat rate from October to March, with no step-down in January.

Current Jack Daniel Distillery employees, retirees, and family members can continue to receive their current allotment of stillage at no cost.

Brown-Forman, the parent company of Jack Daniel’s, is transitioning to a new system of managing distillery byproducts through an anaerobic digester now under construction in Lynchburg.

Farmers received letters that concluded, “Thank you for your understanding and we would like to express our gratitude for the historic relationship that Jack Daniel Distillery has had over the years with the farmers in our community.”

For local farmers, the news landed hard.

“This decision is going to force a lot of farmers to rethink whether they’re going to remain farmers,” one cattleman said. “Our parents did this, our grandparents did this, and now we have to make decisions we’ve never faced. It’s a gut-punch.”

A New Way Forward for Jack Daniel’s

The digester facility, located at 852 Goodbranch Road, is a joint venture between 3 Rivers Energy Partners and TC Energy under the name Lynchburg Renewable Fuels LLC. TC Energy, a Canadian energy infrastructure giant, has invested $29.3 million in the project.

Engineers with Gresham Smith redesigned portions of the facility after a tank rupture in September 2024, adding protective berms, a surge wall, and vegetation buffers.

Once operational, the plant will use microbes to break down distillery byproducts, producing renewable natural gas (RNG) and digestate, a nutrient-rich fertilizer. 3 Rivers CEO John F. Rivers says the facility will generate enough RNG annually to heat more than 10,000 homes and produce fertilizer for more than 43,000 acres of farmland.

“This project will significantly reduce the amount of energy Jack Daniel’s would need to produce their whiskey,” Rivers said at the groundbreaking in 2023. “It will also create much-needed fertilizer that benefits local farms and provides millions in economic impact.”

Brown-Forman leaders have framed the project as both environmentally responsible and strategically necessary as whiskey production grows to meet global demand. Jack Daniel Distillery Senior Vice President General Manager Melvin Keebler called the partnership with 3 Rivers “a strategic step in our ever-evolving sustainability journey.”

A Different Story on the Farm

For many Moore County farmers, though, the end of the Cow Feeder Program is less about sustainability and more about survival.

“That ‘economic impact’ will be subdivisions going up across Moore County,” one farmer said bluntly. “Farms will be sold, subdivided, and subdivisions will be built. The distillery will keep making money. The people of Moore County … our lives are changing. It’s not going to be good for a lot of people.”

Others echoed the sentiment, pointing to the cost of replacing slop with purchased feed. “Corporate America is about greed,” another farmer said. “It’s not about who’s working where, what those local people do in the community. It’s about dollars and shareholders. Everyone wants to make money, even if it hurts someone else.”

The frustration runs deep because the relationship between Jack Daniel’s and local farmers is more than transactional – it is generational.

“Maybe we became too dependent on Jack,” one farmer admitted. “Maybe we continued to do things like our dads did. Maybe we should have walked away two years ago when Jack tried to cut off the slop. … Now, we’ll look at a grain bin, change how we feed. We’ll survive, but it won’t be because our neighbor helped.”

Moore County at a Crossroads

The shift has implications far beyond the farm gate. Moore County is home to 281 farms, according to 2022 USDA census data, and 89% of them are livestock operations. Higher feed costs could push some families out of farming altogether.

“When these generational farms are gone, it will be houses and apartments,” one farmer warned. “Our schools will feel it, our sheriff’s office, our fire department. We’ll need more services and higher taxes. This change doesn’t just affect farmers – it affects every taxpayer in Moore County.”

Brown-Forman’s decision also comes during a time of economic uncertainty in the spirits industry. Sales have slowed in 2025, and global tariffs continue to pressure American whiskey makers. For the company, partnering with 3 Rivers is a way to reduce costs and carbon emissions while positioning for long-term growth.

But for farmers, the calculus is simpler: either absorb higher costs or walk away.

Seeking Alternatives

Not all producers are directly impacted. Some farmers have never relied on slop; instead, they choose to focus on grass-fed or grain-fed diets supported by rotational grazing systems.

Rotational grazing, which involves moving cattle through smaller paddocks to allow pastures to recover, has its own challenges – more fencing, water supply needs, and time to manage. But it also offers benefits such as reduced feed costs, improved forage growth, and healthier herds.

“It gives you more control,” said one farmer who switched years ago. “It takes more work, but you don’t wake up one day and realize a feed source you’ve depended on for generations is gone.”

A Community in Transition

As the March 31, 2026, deadline approaches, uncertainty hangs heavy. Some families are considering grain bins and new feed systems. Others are weighing whether their farms can survive without slop.

For one Moore County farmer, the frustration boiled over into plain words. “I’ll tell you exactly what it is: bullsh*t. Jack talks about being committed to our community. A few dollars here and there – yeah, it makes a difference to clubs and maybe the school, but it’s nothing compared to their profits.”

And yet, even in frustration, resilience shines through. “We’ll survive, somehow,” he said. “But it won’t be because our neighbor helped.”

As another farmer concluded, “Moore County is changing. We just don’t know what it’s going to look like, and we’re probably not going to like it.”