Rocky Mountain Bully Chews
“I grew up around horses - riding horses - you know, the whole little farm thing.” In this Rocky Mountain Bully Chews profile, Sue Steel’s story begins in rural Idaho, the oldest of seven on a farm where there were a couple of milk cows, pigs at times, a dog or two, cats, and always horses. Her father taught FFA and agriculture at the local high school, leasing their sixty acres to neighboring farmers until, in retirement, he became an agronomist, the kind of practical advisor who helps growers choose what they need to make their crops thrive. Country days shaped Sue: chores before school, rides at dusk, and an easy love of animals that never left.
Sue was an athlete through and through. She played basketball (and later college ball at Ricks College, now BYU–Idaho), ran track, qualifying for nationals twice, and kept a softball glove nearby for years. She also studied music and sketched portraits - teammates, parents, even a few dogs - a patient, careful hand that shows up today in how she handles every piece that goes into her dog chews.
After graduating college in 1986, Sue and a college friend took a chance on Salt Lake City. She worked in a hardware store for a bit, as well as an insurance company, while always playing on lots of county rec league teams. Then came a long run in cable. She was a technician, troubleshooter, main-line work, supervisor and a manager of Utah and Idaho commercial installs. Then she moved to a contractor as operations manager and, in 2017, transitioned to Rocky Mountain Power, where she remains one of the managers overseeing outages across the Wasatch Front. She still lights up talking about fieldwork - “the funnest job” - and she treasures the union’s camaraderie: a team that feels like family.
Salt Lake is also where Sue met her wife, Roni, in 2011. They married in 2016. Roni is a born entrepreneur - an artist who ran her own cleaning business, then shifted into garden design, turning blank yards into living canvases. That entrepreneurial spark runs in her family. Roni’s grandfather, Ross Taylor, was a post-war inventor who devised a machine that separated bones from meat (he first used it on chickens) and sold the process in Eastern Europe traveling back to help set up and service the equipment in Romania and the former Czechoslovakia. He tried ideas without fear including a propane “hurricane” stove and crockpot catering, and finally, the most unexpected of all, canes made from dried bull pizzle, a material the old West once used for canes and even tool stocks because it dries as sturdy as wood.
Ross kept experimenting into the 1990s, and after he passed in 2019, his daughter Debbie, Roni's mom, continued the business, shifting toward something pet owners now know well: bully chews. (For the uninitiated: a bully chew is the dried bull penis - often called “bull pizzle” in the trade. It is an all-natural, single-ingredient chew that dogs find irresistible.) Sue started selling them online (www.rockymoiuntainbullychews.com). She also began to sell at farmers’ markets. At Wheeler Farm and beyond, people met her, asked questions, and returned week after week. That in-person trust is how Rocky Mountain Bully Chews truly took root.
From the start, Sue and Roni sourced locally. Some products still come from Debbie’s operation - the big bullies and some steer - but Sue steadily built direct relationships with processing plants and small producers so she would never rely on a single source. A chance conversation at a harvest market opened the door to salmon - human-grade Alaskan fillets that Sue slices and dries into a gentle, flaky chew perfect even for seniors with few teeth. Today, their lineup runs from the famous bully chews to beef trachea, tendons, cow and sheep ears (hair on, because it is healthiest and most natural for digestion), rabbit feet and ears, and split elk antlers so dogs can reach the calcium-rich core. Everything is cleaned simply with no preservatives, no flavorings, and dehydrated until it is safe and shelf stable.
Perhaps what makes Sue proudest is how thoughtfully the business treats the planet. Nearly everything she buys is a by-product of human food processing. Parts that would otherwise head to the landfill and, whatever fat or skin remains after trimming, go to a North Salt Lake facility that turns food waste into fuel. The goal is as close to a zero-waste footprint as possible. One can feel that ethic in her shop on West Fayette Avenue. The dehydrators hum and labeled bins tell you exactly what each item is and where it comes from.
On market days, Sue builds community as naturally as she once built a softball roster. Dogs line up for samples; there is a “Dog Lounge” with chairs and a misting fan when it is hot. Regulars tug their humans straight to her booth. Roscoe, a market legend, has been known to slip his collar and sprint to Sue the moment he hits the grounds. Beyond markets, Sue sells wholesale to a growing list of local partners - raw bars and pet supply shops that value traceable, single-ingredient chews - and she sets up at dog-friendly events like Pucks and Pups at the Maverik Center. She certainly keeps long hours - a full work week at Rocky Mountain Power, then nights processing, weekends at markets. But the vision is steady. Her goal is to build the wholesale side, create good jobs, and one day step back enough to enjoy the “residual income” of something she and Roni built with care.
Ask Sue what keeps her going and she circles back to animals, craft, and kindness. Bully chews satisfy a dog’s instinct to work at something real. Trachea and tendons are nature’s floss and resistance training, hair-on ears support digestion the way the wild intended. Every bag on her table has a story - where it came from, how it was made, why it matters to your dog and to the waste stream we all share.
“What’s important for me is that I want to educate people on what these products are and how they benefit their dogs and our world. I want to be known as the kind, generous and knowledgeable person that helps them look out for the best interest of their dog. I hope to continue to grow a company that holds to those values.”
