Oklahoma Cattle Farmer Says More Rain Is Helping After Drought Conditions Last Year

Recent rain has been welcome news for John Pfeiffer, a cattle farmer in Logan County.

Last year, the summer was so hot and dry Pfeiffer had to lose some of his cattle.

“In a six-week timespan, we now have — due to rainfall — we have abundant grass, we’re going to have a really adequate hay supply this year that we didn’t have last year,” he said. “The cows have all added a whole bunch of weight just because they’ve had so many good things to eat.”

Pfeiffer also said the rain has kept him from spending money to bring in hay from other states, keeping his costs low. But his and other cattle farmers’ good fortune doesn’t trickle down to consumers overnight.

He said it could take up to two years for shoppers to notice a difference at the store.

"We’re going to see higher prices not only for this year, but we’re also going to see higher prices next year,” he said.

One of the biggest reasons impacting last year’s hits is many producers, himself included, liquidated parts of their inventory prematurely because it was unsustainable to keep those many cattle under the drought conditions.

“Because of that, there's fewer numbers of cows producing out there, you have fewer cows producing, then you’re going to have fewer cows to sell,” he said. “It’s strictly a supply and demand situation.”

Pfeiffer hopes his rainy day fortune keeps up but without any damaging winds or tornados.