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September is Spay and Neuter Month
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Its Pet Spay and Neuter Month in Warren County. The distinction was designed at the request of Helping Animals of Warren County in order to raise awareness about the overpopulation of animals and the need to spay and neuter pets to prevent more. Pictured is HAWC president Hollie Cox.

Show your love for animals and help stop the overpopulation of unwanted cats and dogs by calling your veterinarian and making an appointment to have your animal spayed or neutered this month.
Helping Animals of Warren County (HAWC) made a request of both governments, Warren County and city of McMinnville, to show support for September being Pet Spay and Neuter Month as a way to raise awareness about the importance of reducing the number of unwanted dogs and cats in the county.
Warren County made the announcement of support during the Aug. 21 meeting of the Warren County Commission. McMinnville Mayor Jimmy Haley drafted and signed a proclamation for the city.
“We appreciate their support in making September Pet Spay or Neuter Month,” said HAWC president Hollie Cox.
According to HAWC member Jan Saylors, spay and neuter is the key to preventing unwanted animals.
“Spay and neuter is the only way out of the overpopulation problem,” she said. “We can’t keep building shelters. We can’t keep sending dogs north and south and wherever else we send them. We have to get to the root of the problem which is people who will not spay or neuter their pets.”
According to statistics given by HAWC, there are over 3,000 dogs and over 4,000 cats that have not been spayed or neutered in Warren County. Medically unaltered pets lead to litters being born accidentally and creating an overpopulation of unwanted and abandoned animals. In six years, one unaltered female dog and her offspring can be the source of 67,000 puppies. In seven years, one unaltered cat and her young can produce 420,000 kittens.
For more information on HAWC, visit its Facebook page.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community