Nat Geo Wild debuts new series featuring Tennessee dairy farm
Hatcher products are widely available in Middle Tennessee, as well as the Whole Foods markets in Chattanooga and the local Frothy Monkey and Milk & Honey, both of which have locations in Nashville.
If you’ve ever had an espresso at Frothy Monkey or a latte at Milk & Honey in Chattanooga, you’ve enjoyed the dairy products of Hatcher Family Dairy in Middle Tennessee. On Saturday, a documentary series about the sixth-generation family farm will debut on National Geographic Wild.
The eight episodes of “The Hatcher Family Dairy,” which details life on the farm and its related businesses, will air at 10 p.m. Saturdays through the summer on Nat Geo Wild. The series also will be added to the Disney+ lineup.
Hatcher Family Dairy has been a fixture in College Grove, Tennessee, about 30 miles south of Nashville, since 1831. Its 200 acres are home to a creamery, bottling plant and farm store, as well as more than 150 cows that do the essential work. There’s also a family veterinary practice and a 240-acre sister property, Battle Mountain Farm, which was purchased in 2015 to expand the dairy operation. It doubles as an event venue.
Viewers will get to know the fifth and sixth generations of Hatchers who run the farm. They include matriarch Sharon; daughter Jennifer Hatcher, who runs the rural veterinary practice and mobile vet service; son Charles Hatcher, who heads up the dairy operations; and his wife, Mary Morgan Gentry, who runs the storefront and digital operations. The family patriarch, Charlie Hatcher, also a veterinarian, serves as the state’s commissioner of agriculture.
Hatcher products are widely available in Middle Tennessee, as well as the Whole Foods markets in Chattanooga and the local Frothy Monkey and Milk & Honey, both of which have locations in Nashville.
“We started in Nashville, and we try to source locally for everything that we get,” said Austin York, bar manager of the Frothy Monkey. The restaurant uses Hatcher products “for all of our espressos and lattes,” he said, “and we cook with it as well.”
“It’s awesome milk,” said Sarah Barnett, operating partner of Milk & Honey, Chattanooga.