“If we’re good to the community, the community is good back to us. If what we do can make it easier for small towns and organizations
to progress, we benefit as well.” - Brett Ramsey, son of Don Ramsey, founder of Blue & Gold Sausage
A
s warm weather arrives, Future Farmers of America (FFA) students across the region are packing their stock trailers for another competitive season of livestock shows and state contests. After a long winter in the classroom, chapters anticipate the chance to travel, have some fun and prove the skills they’ve developed all year. The trips are well worth the time and effort, but any agriculture education teacher will admit they require some pretty hefty expense sheets. That’s when fundraisers become a critical part of a chapter’s activity schedule and in Oklahoma, Blue & Gold Sausage is king of FFA fundraising.
Small Idea, Big Results “It was the devious mastermind plan of my dad—he was an ag instructor by trade and he taught from the late 50s to 1972 in Oklahoma,” says Brett Ramsey, son of the legendary Don Ramsey who established Blue & Gold Sausage out of necessity in the small town of Jones. “Public schools aren’t prepared to pay for all of the things our great teachers and coaches want to do with the kids, so fundraising has always been part of the equation.”
In the early 1960s, Ramsey’s father decided to utilize the extra swine projects his ag students had shown for a second purpose. He took them to a custom processor, generated a product and re- cruited a group of students to sell the sausage door-to-door. The profits were used to fund basic ag ed activities such as attending state FFA con- vention, participating in contests and purchasing new shop equipment.
“They did that on a local basis for several years and by about 1970, neighboring communities in the county were asking to join in,” Brett says. “At that point, it didn’t take long for the demand on dad’s time to exceed what he could give in teaching.”
In 1972, the Ramseys built a small manufactur- ing facility and committed to packaging Blue and Gold Sausage on a full-time basis. Using a recipe from the company’s original custom processor and operating under a name that rings true to its FFA roots, Blue & Gold Sausage serves FFA chap- ters across the state with a product that is both reasonably priced and tasty.
“We try to create a quality product that is valu- able, whatever it may be,” Brett says. “We hope people want to buy Blue & Gold Sausage regard- less of whether or not it’s a fundraising effort.” Although his father didn’t know much about fundraising, he relied on a true product to prove its value, and customers took notice. Even after 40 years, the Ramseys conduct business from the ground level where the family can stay directly tied to Blue and Gold’s finished product. Brett handles Blue and Gold’s advertising efforts along with logistics such as inventory and equipment. Brother Greg oversees regulatory issues and dedi- cates much of his time to quality control to ensure a wholesome product. Their mother, Willadean, is still the bookkeeper and father Don remains a sounding board for all things related to the company.
“He’s still an ag teacher who just happens to be a businessman,” Brett says jokingly. “There are several other family members who work here too and amazingly, we still operate in a one-room, one-line facility with 15 people. We create 8,000 pounds of sausage per hour, and even though that sounds like a big number, it’s pretty small in the overall scheme of things.”
Producing At Full Blast When in full production, the company employs 35 to 40 people, including 10 or 11 truck drivers. All sausage is produced and packaged at the man- ufacturing facility in Jones, but the raw material is purchased from Seaboard Foods processing plants in Oklahoma and Kansas (read more about
1972 first manufacturing facility
8,000 pounds of sausage per hour
3.25 Million pounds of sausage per year
800,000 pounds of chicken tenders
1.25 Million pounds of bacon
$3.5 Million fundraising dollars
1,100
customer organizations in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkan- sas, Texas and Missouri
9,000 sq ft in current facility
27,000 sq ft in new facility (to come)
APRIL 2013 23
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