What are Bully Sticks Made From?

Author: Amanda Brahlek

Chances are if your dog has tried a bully stick, it quickly became their favorite. As your dog sinks their teeth into one of their tasty, tough, and delicious bully sticks, the question may have crossed your mind... “What are bully sticks made of?” These natural, single-ingredient chewing treats offer a wide array of health benefits. However, very few dog owners actually know what animal they come from let alone what part is used to make them.

If you’ve been wondering about what this savory, unique, and beneficial treat is made from, we have answers.

What Is a Bully Stick’s Single Ingredient?

We’ll get straight to it. Bully sticks are made from bull penises. That’s right. It may not be the most appropriate dinner conversation topic with your grandma, but it’s true. Bully sticks are 100% beef “pizzle,” which is a cute way of saying the penis muscle from a bull.

At Natural Farms, we only use hormone-free, chemical-free, grass-fed, free-range beef.

Why Beef Penis?

Beef penis may not be on the menu at fancy restaurants, but it is an ingredient dogs love. And pizzles would be part of your dog’s natural diet since they consume all organs of their prey. In fact, after taking an animal down, dogs and wolves consume the nutrient-rich organs first. This is because organs contain high levels of protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Beef pizzles are also much safer than chew treats such as rawhide. Unlike rawhide and bones, beef pizzles do not splinter, and they are completely digestible. They also clean your dog’s teeth as they chew.

What Are the Benefits of Bully Sticks?

As we pointed out, bully sticks happen to be a great natural dog toothbrush. As your dog chews their bully stick, they are scraping away plaque and other build-up. As the stick softens, it even cleans deeper between teeth.

Bully sticks are an excellent source of proteins, which are made up of amino acids. Amino acids are the building block of your dog’s cells. This means they are the primary ingredient in your dog’s muscles, fur, and nails. They also play a vital role in transporting nutrients throughout your dog’s body, in addition to being necessary for hormone production and immune system function.

So, now that the cat’s out of the bag of what bully sticks are made of, you may be wondering about how bully sticks are made.

How Are Natural Farm Bully Sticks Made?

While many treat companies dance around how their treats are produced, we’re proud of the chemical-free process we use to make Natural Farm treats. And our bully sticks for dogs are no exception.

When processing beef, many parts would be discarded if they were not made into dog treats. Beef pizzles are one of these ingredients. And thank goodness beef pizzles are not tossed. They offer dogs an unparalleled chewy treat that is rich in nutrients. And by using this ingredient to make healthy dog treats, we’re reducing needless waste. Other ingredients made into dog treats that would have been tossed include hooves, ears, and esophagi.

So, in our human-grade processing facility, we thoroughly clean the beef pizzle four times and remove any unsavory fat. Then we soak them in pure water. From there, we use a slow baking technique that locks in nutrients, flavor, and increases the naturally chewy texture of the pizzle. Best of all, this process allows Natural Farm to only use natural preservation methods and no artificial preservatives.

After they’re dried, we cut the pizzles to size, sort them by thickness and length, and package them in our eco-friendly packaging. We never allow the pizzles to wait around before packaging them, which reduces the risk of contamination and bacteria.

After being packaged, the pizzles are stored for two weeks before undergoing thorough testing for salmonella and any other bacteria.