SharkFarmerXM's podcast
Jerry, Kelsey and Carissa Pfeiffer from Orlando, OK 7-11-24
[Music] How are we getting this shark farmer radio? Hey! I'm your host Rob Sharkey. We're in the studio today just outside of Bradford, Illinois. It's a beautiful day. But I'm gonna say three quarters of a tent. That's it. So 0.7 tenths. That is very specific. Yeah. But uh yeah it's we we were in Peoria last night and it it impounded there. Yes we actually had a date night. It's been a while since we've been in Peoria. With each other by the way just in case. Do you have to specify that? You know it's it's a different world we live in but uh yeah it was down pouring. I don't know how many inches they got it but I was hoping it wasn't happening at home and it did not. So we had already had puddles so we didn't need any more. We're trying to get your shed dirt work done in preparation for this new shed. So I'm hoping they're gonna be done here in the next couple days. It always takes so much more dirt than I think for those dirt prep sites. Yeah. I mean how many dumps? I think they've got 50 loads-ish 50-ish loads and they're they've got a lot more to go. I barely saw a percent grade when I looked at it. I'm like this isn't gonna take a touch. Oh I knew you know I knew it was gonna be. They put a whole semi load of dirt and they pound the living crud out of it with that sheep's foot and they're like where'd the dirt go? All right let's go out to the great state of Oklahoma Orlando, Oklahoma. We're going to talk with Jerry Pfeiffer, Kelsey Pfeiffer, and Carissa Pfeiffer. How are you all doing? Good. Okay Jerry you are the dad Kelsey and Carissa you are the son and daughter correct? Yes. Okay Jerry you you're the farm the family farm since 1907 so what generation does that make you? That makes me the fourth generation. Okay and the kids are the fifth you got to be proud of that. Absolutely. Or is Orlando in a great state of Oklahoma? 50 miles north of Oklahoma City or 19 miles west of Oklahoma State University. Okay is there anything I see the pan handle on the map. I've never been there. Is there actually anything in there? No no there's a good looking girl behind every tree. Because there's no trees you see Emily? I do. That's the humor. Now the farm is I'm assuming outside of Orlando. Yes sir it is Orlando's a tiny little town the school system's actually more Orlando. Two tiny little towns and we're together. Okay so Jerry you're farming full-time now Kelsey and Carissa are you guys back at the farm? Yes sir. Yeah we both graduated from OSU Kelsey is seven years old and he's been here a little longer but we're both back here full-time. Well when we found out about your farm because we met Kelsey's wife Morgan when we were at the AMSA reciprocal meat conference and she was fantastic she brought us a hat from you guys and told us where your farm was and we're like oh we got to have you guys on so it was nice to meet her. Yeah yes she's a professor at OSU. Yeah thanks for the hat by the way. Yes sir and then we have another sibling that's between Carissa and I and she's the vice president operations at Hawaii the Oklahoma Youth Expo it's been a largest junior livestock show in the world. Okay so y'all got livestock on a brain out there no is that the type of farm that you grew up on Jerry? Actually yes and no. This my granddad run this place until 1973 and it was predominantly a registered cow cap operation. My dad and us took it over in '73 it stayed a cow cap operation but we become wheat farmers and the truth of the matter is we're not in wheat country. This is very marginal land probably never should have been broken out but it was and so we transitioned out of that into a cow cap grazing operation where we graze yearlands on wheat and we kind of quit that in '01 when we dispersed the registered cows. At that point we run a bunch of cows for express ranch which we were our cows we put their embryos in them and then the goats were brought in there and then things changed dramatically. You said goats that's a that's an odd switch isn't it? It was an odd switch yeah all right who brought that out? Do you ever like a random goat salesman just stop by and say hey this is next craze this an ostrich is no to be quite honest my wife and I were you know I am thrilled that all my kids are involved in ag two of them full time in production ag one of them totally involved in ag that was our goal and we were looking for you know different than where you live this country is not very productive so we looked at getting in a specialized some kind of ag that was specialized we looked at chicken farms we looked at turkey farms we looked at hog farms and because we have no groundwater here those options were off the table so then we looked at a lot of different options and what we could do and we kind of fell into the good deal we kind of got in at the right time it has really taken off since then but we've been very blessed by gas. We're going to have to talk about this after the break. Yeah we do got to go to break when we come back I want to hear what the next generation has to say about a ghost what do you call it is a goat rancher? That's a lot of goats. That's a good question. They're shepherds they're shepherds. I don't know you're not a goat shepherd. Yes we'll be back with that Jerry Pfeiffer Kelsey Pfeiffer and Carissa Pfeiffer they are goat wranglers out there at Oklahoma. We're going to hear all about that more right after the break. This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell or lease your land? Well check out Common Ground where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too by the way go to commonground.io that's commonground.io When I was in grade school I remember they were bringing in ostriches and because the farm economy was horrible this was the early 80s. Oh gosh everybody thought that was going to be the next craze until they remembered that we get ice in Illinois. That's what it was they brought in it was a kid in my class and his dad got like four ostriches and I mean this was going to save everything because even the bad eggs were like worth 50 bucks right or something yeah the first winter came and they found out ostriches did not do well on ice. They broke their legs and I guess which makes sense because if you have a broken leg as an ostrich you're probably not going to you're not a flamingo. That's right you're not just going to stand on one leg so this is not good yeah that didn't go over very well. No shark farmer TV is next week right? Yes season nine premiere Tuesday night at eight thirty central on RFD TV and if you're looking for a good podcast this week we had Bob Delmore on from Colorado State University. Fantastic he talks about how kids are often hungry. Beef sticks for backpacks. On the weekends and they're putting beef sticks they've made I don't know two million some. Beef sticks now for backpacks for kids and it's fantastic. All right today though we're talking with the Pfeiffer family from Orlando, Oklahoma. Jerry is the dad. Kelsey's a son and Chris is the daughter. Jerry is telling us how the the farm ranch transitioned to goats and okay so like Kelsey how old were you when you had the the goat invasion? I was a junior in high school whenever we got goats. Did you think dads was nuts? Yes. So did you always know that you were coming back to the farm? I always wanted to but um you know I mean that I didn't you know well I always hope to be able to come back but you know how farming goes not always an option. Yeah you said that you left and went to college. I did go to college yeah I went to Conner State University and I just livestock there and then I came back to Oklahoma State and I just livestock there as well. Okay is the the farm your full-time gig then? Yes sir. Okay and uh Chris did you always know that you wanted to come back? Uh I get yeah I mean it's kind of like Kelsey we always everybody kind of wanted to but until the goats really really when Kelsey got out of school the goats kind of started growing more and it kind of gave the opportunity to but when we were younger it probably wasn't that super feasible to be able to come back because the cows couldn't sustain everyone obviously so kind of in college and honestly I didn't really know for sure if I was going to come back at that like whenever I was in college I got a master's actually um and after I graduated I was working here already in college and I kind of just never left. I don't really know if there was ever a conversation that like I was staying here but I just haven't got a job yet. That's what I was actually that was going to be my question with both of you was there that conversation that I want to come back because there wasn't with my dad. It's not like I'm ripping on it but I mean that's obviously you tell people that you're like how can there not be a conversation if I'm coming back to the farm? Right there was no conversation. Before we go much further there are more than just goats here. We also run 400 a 400 head cow cats unit and then we run 500 sheep too. Oh the sheep as well you are shepherds. See they are shepherds. Oh quiet. But what the theory was was we tried to diversify this deal enough that they can make a living at it and I think it's very important that those of us in ACT that try to get some young people to come home and be involved in ACT full-time without jobs. Was there a lot of pressure on you Jerry? I mean you have these kids you knew they probably wanted to come back. Was there a lot of pressure on you to to get the farm rants the way that it could so where you could support more? Yeah because the truth of matter is in 99 early 2000s we were eventually struggling to say the least. So tell me now that you have added goats and sheep did you find a niche market for your goats? Are you selling them for the meat or are you selling them as like project animals for kids for 4-H? We sell them for 4-H and have to pay projects all over the United States. Okay and I mean how do you find your customers? So we utilized whenever we first started we sold them in a live sale here and I think there was two or three of those or four before we ever put anything online and then whenever we started selling doe kids we started putting them online and we were probably actually the first people to video them in a video pin to sell them versus just having a picture of them and that has grown immensely from about one or two sales a year in terms of online sales to about 16 to 20 online sales a year. We started selling goats in January online and we finished in October. And how far do I'm sorry go ahead Kelsey. There's still four lives here as well actually technically five because we have a really big consignment sell that a lot of the other goat breeders in the United States are invited to in April so there's still five live sales along with the online sales. And how far like geographically are you selling to? We've sold to probably 30 states this year. Yeah we've sold all the way from Florida to Oregon to Delaware. In the majority of them are show goats is that what it is? Everything that we sell online like in the sales are there show goats. We hardly have we we rarely have anything that has to go to the unless it's like a cold dough or something with a bad bag or something that's you know just older we rarely have anything that's to go to the sell bar. Okay I'm completely ignorant on the goat showing world but I mean do you guys just build up like a reputation that your quality genetics or how does that work? Yeah I mean our we've built a brand here you know dad started it whenever we first got it and we built a reputation of that you know everything was all you know everything sold through sales there was never any sideways deals or anything of the sorts that went on here and that has developed the customer base where they trust us and we don't ever you know we don't ever falter from that if somebody you know they have to go through a sale we don't ever sell private everybody has the first option to buy the best one. Mm-hmm I suppose it only takes a couple bad deals for a place like yours to lose a great reputation. Yeah only only about one usually. So that's why I say it likes a loud mouth. We do have to run to break today we are talking with Jerry Pfeiffer Kelsey Pfeiffer and Carissa Pfeiffer all from Orlando, Oklahoma. When you come back we're going to continue goat chat and you'll have to make some sheep too. Oh yeah and and the cows. We're going to talk about all of it and more right after the break. This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy sell or lease your land? Well check out Common Ground where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too by the way go to commonground.io that's commonground.io. It's time for Orlando, Oklahoma's favorite radio segment. Where in the world is well? Well what do you have for us today? Today I'm in Orlando, Oklahoma which is a town in Logan and Payne counties in the US state of Oklahoma. The population was 148 at the 2010 census compared to the figure of 201 in 2000. Ah diminishing. All right it's a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan statistical area. I was wondering that. All right before the opening of the Cherokee outlet for settlement this community was called Cherokee but the name was changed to Orlando when a post office was opened on July 18th 1889. The Disney post office. Yeah early Orlando had a colorful history. In 1892 Oliver Yantis a member of the Doolin gang was wounded and captured outside the town. He was brought into Orlando where he died. In 1896 a group of con artists bought some homesteads near the town, salted them with gold nuggets and started a gold rush. That was rascals. Several townspeople lost a great deal of money before the plot was exposed. 1800s Bernie Madoff right there. Several towns people. Oh sorry. In 1902 a woman who had bought adulterated kerosene for the lamps in her house exploded when she lit the lamps starting a fire that spread to several nearby homes. Oh adulterated. Check your kerosene out. Orlando's 21 miles north of Guthrie the county seat one mile west of Payne county line and one mile south of the noble county line and according to the United States Census Bureau the town has a total area of 0.2 square miles. I'm waiting for the famous people. Yeah I was just going to say famous people. I don't think that there is any famous people from the town. I got the five first. Yeah we're here. Yeah yeah the five first. Also is Orlando near Stillwater Oklahoma? Yes 90 miles west. Okay well then 19 miles west there is a giant Bumblebee transformer on the south road. Oh yeah yeah yeah. They know it well. Sounds like they don't care. Thank you Will. It's kind of hard to find information on it because there's not a whole lot happening. Is it like just somebody that built one? Pretty much. The built them now. No the Bumble. Yeah. Oh yeah yeah yeah there it's a auto body place. They have two of them one on each side of town. Okay today we're talking with a Jerry Pfeiffer a Kelsey Pfeiffer and Carissa Stoltz. I'm sorry I said the wrong name before. You guys your family operation which includes the spouses. So give me the whole rundown of what everybody does. The rundown is my wife and I I got out of college is 81. My wife got out in 82. We got married. We operated with my parents killed the early 2000s. My wife went to work for a bank and after a year she transitioned and went to work for the Department of Ag. We we really wanted my wife and I both really wanted our kids to get a job before they come home. But because we got in this go deal it was exploding and Kelsey graduated from college got married. His wife is a professor no issue and didn't have the opportunity to get a job. Well Chris becomes a law and there's there's our daughter in the middle who did get a job with the Oklahoma East Expo and she's married to a vet who runs a mobile practice. Chris becomes a law she gets married graduates from college helps really hard to find and we do have really good help but we needed more support for the the family deal and she actually lives 40 miles from our headquarters. Her husband works for the FSA office and she drives back and forth. It's not ideal but I can't hire you like the like our family else. And our deal is very unique in the fact that I'm 65. I pretty much turned this deal over to my kids. I take care of the cows. I take care of the sheep. I put up their hay. I do what farming we do do. We don't farm a lot like we used to. But I turned this deal over to my kids. My wife still pays all the bills and takes care of the book work. But it is different than a lot of places. I actually yeah most most old farmers never retire. I'm not going to retire. No I didn't say that. How else are you going to tell them what they're doing wrong? Well yeah yeah. Now the drawback is the drawback to what we do for a living versus what? Corn farmers, cattle ranchers. This is more like a dairy. It's 365 days a year. It never stops. We have people here virtually every day because we don't sell privately. We have so many sales that there's always somebody here today. There are probably 10 or 50 people there. There are people transferring embryo transfer on customers that we have that they're transferring embryos on. So Kelsey do you enjoy working with a family most days right? Do you love it that it's a family operation? Yeah I mean it's like one of those deals you know we like it because we know each of us know like what's got to be done. So if one of us has to be gone where we usually know what we'll get done. Normally it's me and Chris and that leave your usually stay here and take care of her. Think for us. Yeah I mean it makes it good. It's hard to you know there's I mean obviously you know life happens but it's hard to imagine how we could get it done without all three of us. Yeah and Chris so what do you think? I mean do you love what you do? I do. I love what I do every day and tell about right now it's pretty old looking it goes every day. So you just kind of make it through the month of July and then it gets better again. Yeah usually from about May 15th till about yesterday it's really difficult. Yesterday we finished videoing our four-year-old does and putting it up small square bells and then it does slow down just a little bit here in the next week or two. Okay if people want to find out more about y'all is there a website or social media or anything like that? The Facebook is the best option in terms of right now. We're working really hard on getting our website back up right? Yeah but Facebook is the best way to keep up with all the sales and everything that's happening. And what's the Facebook called? Um type of farm. Type of farms you know. Pfeiffer is P-F-E-I-F-F-E-R correct? Yes sir. Okay how many people say it Pfeiffer? Everybody might say is it different. We just pretty much answered anything. All right well very cool. I love talking to family operations and kudos to you Jerry for figuring out a way to allow kids to come back. I mean honestly I'm a little biased but I don't think there's anything better in the world than farming with your kids. Jerry Pfeiffer, Kelsey Pfeiffer and Carissa Stoltz from Orlando, Oklahoma. Thank you guys very very much. Do not go anywhere though. Sean Haney's coming up next. He thinks sheep are better than goats. I don't know why. Catch everybody next time. [Music]