John H. Pfeiffer Jr., a fourth-generation Oklahoma farmer and rancher, has been awarded the 2025 recipient of Governor Stitt’s Outstanding Achievement in Agriculture Award and is the 28th inductee into the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with Pfeiffer to hear his story.
The Outstanding Achievement in Agriculture Award is the highest award given by an Oklahoma Governor to honor distinguished Oklahoma agriculture producers. This prestigious award honors leaders in the agriculture industry who exemplify personal values, performance, and achievement.
Pfeiffer was surprised when Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur called to give him the news. He double checked the number, then informed Secretary Arthur that she must have mistakenly called the “old John Pfeiffer” rather than the young one! The “young one” is State Representative John Pfeiffer III.
“My son and her talk, at least weekly, and often two or three times a day,” he explained with a chuckle. “She said, ‘No, I want the old one!’”
His next thought was that she would ask him to serve on a committee, and his mind was racing over the plethora of things that needed to be done in the spring on his purebred Angus cattle operation. Once he learned the reason for her call, he was caught off guard.
“I don’t know that I deserve it, but I am appreciative and it’s something I think a whole lot of,” he shared.
His involvement in agriculture began as soon as he was big enough to do a job. He became active in 4-H at 9 years old, showing heifers given to him by his grandfather. He admitted that after that first show season was when he began to see cattle as profitable because once he was finished with his show heifers, his grandfather took them back, bred them, raised and sold a bull out of them, and gave him the check, with no expenses on his part.
“I thought the cattle business was the best thing in the world!” he said. “That was where I started from, and we’ve been continually working with my dad and granddad, and we’ve been in this same area since the land run. My great-granddad bought his first registered Angus bull in 1907, and we’ve been in the Angus business since then.”
He pointed out the irony that he is receiving his award on April 22 – the same day as the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889. He admitted that his great-grandfather bought the farm – reputedly for $25 and a shotgun – the day after the land run rather than the day of, but the irony is not lost on him.
Pfeiffer and his wife, Gaye, have long been recognized as pillars of excellence in the cattle industry. Together, they own and operate Pfeiffer Angus Farms, a purebred Angus cattle operation. Their participation in a 1981 CAB workshop shifted their focus from show-based to performance-based breeding, with Pfeiffer leading advancements in technology like in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.
His grandfather was a proponent of diversity, so the Pfeiffers also raise crops along with their cattle because “they usually aren’t both bad at the same time.”
Pfeiffer graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1975 and worked as a county extension agent before serving as an educator and principal for 18 years. The Pfeiffers actively support local youth through 4-H and FFA, earning Pfeiffer honorary degrees from the Mulhall-Orlando FFA Chapter and the Oklahoma FFA Association. They welcome hundreds to their farm annually, sharing livestock management practices and educating diverse groups, including chefs, international delegates, STEM educators, and experts.
“Originally, I went to college, and when I came out of college, I thought, ‘If I could be a dentist, I’d have lots of money to raise cows,’ he admitted. “The problem was that I forgot you had to study when you went to college if you wanted to be a dentist.”
After two years, he switched to an agricultural degree and joined the livestock judging team. He admitted that he didn’t do a lot after college and realized that serving as a county extension agent wasn’t for him. That’s when he returned to college to obtain a teaching certificate, saying that his wife put him on the straight and narrow path to success.
He recalled that he and Hays were classmates in Class I of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program, and didn’t really know what they were getting into. “It probably had more to do with changing how I looked at things and did things than anything that has ever happened in my life,” he admitted. “If you go back and look, you’ll see all of the activities that I began to do since I got out of the Ag Leadership Program. It wasn’t long before I was on the co-op board, the Farm Bureau Board, and various other boards, and still continued to teach school.”
After being elected to the board of the American Angus Association, he served as the Chairman of Certified Angus Beef and then the President of the breed Association.
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