Jim Dumas and The Big Sandy Meat Shop has won two state awards for his beef products.

The 2019 Cured Meat championship/Grand Champion for his Fresh Cased Sausage and Blue Ribbon Cheddar Brats. He also took the 2019 Cured Meat Championship Reserve Grand Champion Whole Muscle Jerky. The top six were all within one point of each other. Out of a thousand points Jim got 994, so only six points from perfect. Jim is most proud of this Reserve Champion because there was so many in the category.

Jim hosted the states Montana Meat Processors Associate state meeting. It was hosted at the Ice Dome in Havre this year. The judges were prestigious Doctors in Meat Science from both the University of Idaho and the University of Montana.

He could take his two-winning samples to America Meat Processors Associate (AMPA), but he doesn't have time. This year it's in Louisiana, during the middle of fair times in Montana.

"I'm pretty happy that we won." He's been in the business for seven years and in seven years he has risen to the top. "It is exciting to win." Other plants have hundreds of those plaques, so it's exciting to get his first.

While interviewing Don Soreson about his 40th anniversary of Virgelle Mercantile he mentioned he gets his meats from The Big Sandy Meat Shop and the meat always gets rave reviews.

Jim Dumas, never really wanted to be in the meat business, until about seven years ago. He had an opportunity and he took it. "I enjoy it, and it turns out I'm good at. You have to like something to be good at. If you don't like it you aren't going to be good at it." He likes cutting meat, he likes making the smoke products, and "I like making sausage. It took me 40 years to find out what I like to do."