Teague Sells 2-,3- and 4-Year-Old Bucking Bulls

By: Keith Ryan Cartwright June 04, 2014@ 05:30:00 PM

Tom Teague is leaving the bucking bull industry after over 10 years of work. Photo by Andy Watson / BullStockMedia.com.

FORT WORTH, Texas – All indications are the bucking bull market is back in business.

On Tuesday night, longtime stock contractor and PBR board member Tom Teague held a complete dispersal sale of his 2-, 3- and 4-year-old bucking bulls during a video auction in Fort Worth. The North Carolina native has already sold his mature stock and plans to hold a dispersal sale of his female cows in September and a final dispersal of his 2013 bulls in the spring of 2015.

According to Scott Accomozzo, who has been raising and hauling bulls for years, Teague’s sale, which included online bidders, was a “perfect indicator” that the current bull market “is coming back because these bulls are bringing what they were bringing five or six years ago.”

Teague is known to have put together a top-rated breeding program since getting involved in 1999.

Many of the 2-year-old bulls Tuesday night went for between $17,000 and $25,000 with one full brother to I’m a Gangster fetching $110,000.

“That’s what’s pretty impressive tonight,” said Accomozzo, regarding the average cost compared to three years ago when bulls of equal quality cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000.

This past weekend, D&H Cattle Company held a female sale on Sunday in Oklahoma.

Accomozzo figured the market at the Oklahoma sale was up 25 to 30 percent from a year ago and that it featured the same quality breeding the Pages had last year. By comparison, the quality – from top to bottom – for Teague’s sale is also up over most other sales.

PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert said, “The quality that was at this sale isn’t at every sale.”

Lambert said bulls that didn’t show well in their video still brought top dollar because of their pedigree.

“Even if they didn’t make it as a bucking bull they might be the cornerstone of somebody’s new breeding program,” said Lambert. “If you’re going to raise bucking bulls you couldn’t go wrong. Even if they couldn’t make it as a bucking bull because they might be your herd sire for the next 10 years.”

However, Accomozzo likened the bidding on the high-end, 2-year-old as being “no different than going to Sotheby’s in New York and buying a Picasso. The people who have a lot of money are getting more comfortable and they’re starting to spend it. You could see that here today and that filters down.”

Currently “good long (round) bulls” at a Built Ford Tough Series event are selling for $50,000.

“They’re getting back up there because the short-round bulls are costing,” explained Accomozzo, who referred to himself as a “value buyer” and did not purchase any bulls at Teague’s sale. “We sold Air Time for $150,000, so those bulls are getting up there in high price, where you can afford to give a little more for the chances at a 2-year-old knowing the upside was a lot bigger than it was.

“I’ve raised too many bulls. To gamble on a 2-year-old for that kind of money, that’s tough to do.”

Teague raised two-time World Champion Bull Bones and was part owner of three other World Champion Bulls, including Big Bucks, Mossy Oak Mudslinger and the only three-time winner in PBR history Little Yellow Jacket.

In a statement, Teague said, “To have successful program, you must be 100 percent committed and put your heart and soul into a program. I have done this since 1999. Salem Leasing has been my primary business and we are fortunate that Salem continues to grow. As it does, I find that it is taking more of my time and I don’t have the time for Teague Bucking Bulls that I once had.”

He added, “The memories, the friendships, the business and being part of a sport from the ground level will always hold a special place with me, but with a heavy heart I have decided to have a dispersal sale of all of my bucking stock.”

In opening the sale, PBR Executive Chairman and CEO Jim Haworth said, “When you think about the ABBI and the bull business, Tom really set the stage.”

Teague has been an influential figure in the PBR for well over a decade.

The fact that his dispersal sale would reset a new standard for the cost of bucking bulls comes with little surprise.

Typically dispersal sales do bring more value than other bull auctions in which buyers know the contractor selling bulls is holding his best stock in the pasture for himself.

Tuesday night, Accomozzo said with everything being up for sale none of the buyers were being “run” or biding against a ghost.

“They’re all in there,” said Accomozzo, of Teague’s prized breeding program. “He’s not keeping anything.”

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