Oklahoma Farmers Get Resourceful With A Water Buffalo In A Minivan

There’s a saying on just about every farm in Oklahoma: “If it works, it ain't stupid.” And if you’ve spent any time around Oklahoma farmers or ranchers, you know that phrase covers a lot of ground.

Case in point, those ranchers out of Jones who recently loaded a water buffalo into the back of a minivan. No livestock trailer, no flatbed. Just a dairy queen in the captain’s chair.

I know that sounds completely ridiculous and extremely far-fetched, but there's video of it.

@jacobpeak12 Long lost vaquero #youaintnocowboy #jonesoklahoma ♬ original sound - Jacob Peak

Now, to anyone unfamiliar with agriculture, that might seem like a cross between a petting zoo and a felony. But to those who make their living raising livestock, it’s just Tuesday.

Hindsight being 20/20, these van-life cowboys don't know just how lucky they are. A couple of water buffalo killed a local Jones man earlier this summer.

Farming isn’t about sticking to some glossy, textbook version of “how it’s done.” It’s about figuring out how to get things from point A to point B with whatever you’ve got, spending as little as possible, and making sure nothing dies in the process.

I’ve seen it firsthand. My uncle once brought home a donkey he bought at auction, riding tall in the bed of his pickup all the way home. He didn't strap it in or tie it down. The last thing anyone wanted was to drag a donkey to its death in the event it hopped out. It was beyond ridiculous, but you know what... the donkey lived a long and productive life, and the truck bed survived too.

On a farm, every shortcut is weighed against cost, time, and necessity. Livestock trailers are expensive. Renting one cuts into profit. And if the minivan will haul kids to soccer, it’ll haul a calf to pasture. That’s just efficiency in action.

And while livestock in a minivan makes for a funny video, it’s far from the strangest thing you’ll see out in rural Oklahoma. We've all seen hay bales balanced like Jenga towers on half-ton pickups and chicken coops strapped to boat trailers.

Farming isn’t about looking right, it’s about making it work. And if the work gets done, no one’s going to complain about the method.