Why We Like Edwards Feeds

The Edwards Feeds operation provides a visible landmark in downtown Lebanon, TN.

Just a pebble's throw from being smack-dab in the center of Lebanon, Tennessee, our favorite feed store dominates the skyline: Edwards Feeds. A long-time family business, Edwards Feeds is the natural outgrowth of Edwards Hatchery and came into being after Big Agriculture encroached upon three generations of poultry farming spread across much of Middle Tennessee. As I recently told the owner, Tim Edwards, their loss to the mammoth commercial poultry industry was a gain for us: the area's small farmers. His family's decision to switch to grain production has allowed countless animals opportunity to consume fresh, thoughtfully-formulated feeds made with grains grown right here in the southeastern United States.

I appreciate being able to provide my livestock with grain that I know to be fresh, high-quality, and formulated with a conscience. Sure, everyone lists the ingredients on the label, but at Edwards Feeds the staff speak knowledgeably about the source of the ingredients and their reasons for inclusion in each mix. Price hikes are made with consideration, too; when prices rise, I know they are not about gouging the consumer, but about an equitable exchange of money for product.

Edwards Feeds seen from the parking lot at an uncharacteristically quiet moment for business.

When Edwards Bargain Mix for beef cattle on pasture (that, yes, I feed to our goats and horses) jumped from $6.75 per 50 lb. bag to $8.00 at the close of 2010, Tim was on hand to explain the price hike, to warn that the price would jump again shortly, and to explain that if I could wait three weeks he had been able to lock in the price on his next shipment of a particular ingredient enabling him to bring the price back to the $8.00 even, through March.

Indeed, speaking candidly, as always, Tim indicated that he is "not proud" of the Bargain Mix, a lower-cost  alternative feed offered at the height of the economic recession when many local farmers were struggling. I made a point to thank him for providing it, allowing that it had helped us--and presumably hundreds of other area farmers--by giving us a way to stretch our feed dollars during a tough time. Mixed with higher-priced formulations for horses, goats, or alpacas, the Edwards Bargain Mix stretches our feed dollars here on P&CW Farm.

Lounging just inside the door, a welcome cat snoozes beside a bucket of peanuts.

Last spring or summer, I received a call from an alpaca farmer relocating to Middle Tennessee. As I do whenever the subject of feed arises, I made a point of informing her about Edwards Feeds. When it became apparent that we both liked to feed the mix formulated by alpaca-expert Dr. Norm Evans, a formulation Dr. Evans actually entrusted Edwards to mix under their own label. When our talk turned to price, she was astounded to learn that Edwards provides that formulation for less than half of what she had been paying, in Georgia I think. (The exact numbers escape me, but I recall quoting something in the realm of $16.00 for a 50 lb. bag, and she was disbelieving because she had been paying closer to $36.00 for that quantity!) As I said earlier, Edwards' grain is priced fairly, never exorbitantly.

Other aspects of Edwards Feeds that I appreciate include being recognized and remembered as a valued customer, and being helped in every way they can help. Usually this means that they will locate and order an item I need that they don't keep in stock--such as those automatic livestock waterers that have made my life so much simpler, or stocking a product they did not already carry--in our case it was a food formulated for adult large breed dogs in a brand they already carried.

The staff is friendly and nice, the service is prompt, the feed quality is excellent, the prices are fair, and everything from feed to fence panels get loaded for me--efficiently and cheerfully. What's not to like?

Thank y'all at Edwards Feeds for the quality you add to my life!