‘Tech Pride’ sausage a special Wampler’s blend
Batches of specially prepared Tech Pride sausage and Tech Pride bratwurst will be available for alumni to sample in the President’s Box during this weekend’s football game against Tennessee State University.
Eventually, the sausage produced from hogs raised at TTU’s own 1,800-acre Oakley farm in Overton County will be made available for campus consumption and for sale at local grocery stores, says C. Pat Bagley, dean of the College of Agricultural and Human Sciences.
Wampler's Farm Sausage Company, owned by TTU business school grads Ted Wampler Jr. and John Edd Wampler, processed the special blend at its Lenoir City plant. John Edd Wampler will be a special guest of TTU President Bob Bell at this weekend’s game.
The sausage was introduced last week during a gathering on campus of the Tennessee Farm Bureau.
“They did not eat it all, but they tried,” Bagley joked.
In the future, TTU will look to grow and supply more of its own meat products used at campus eateries. It has all been made possible by the newly acquired Oakley farm, which TTU began leasing this year from Millard and J.J. Oakley for $10 annually.
The farm has been in continuous operation since 1792, when it was granted to an ancestor for his service in the Revolutionary War. The farm’s 600 head of cattle make it one of the largest cattle farms in the state.
Organic vegetables now grown on the Waters farm, a 113-acre farm in southern Putnam County, are already served on campus.
“Chartwell’s, our food services vendor on campus, has agreed to buy the products from us,” Bagley said.
TTU also operates the Shipley farm located west of campus on Highway 290.
