diff --git a/salt/payload.py b/salt/payload.py
index 44b23c8a01b3..e6b95f2a51b7 100644
--- a/salt/payload.py
+++ b/salt/payload.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import salt.log
 import salt.crypt
 from salt.exceptions import SaltReqTimeoutError
+from salt.utils.odict import OrderedDict
 import six
 
 # Import third party libs
@@ -92,7 +93,11 @@ def loads(self, msg):
         Run the correct loads serialization format
         '''
         try:
-            return msgpack.loads(msg, use_list=True)
+            # msgpack >= 0.2.0 supports object_pairs_hook parameter to return an OrderedDict
+            if msgpack.version >= (0, 2, 0):
+                return msgpack.loads(msg, use_list=True, object_pairs_hook=OrderedDict)
+            else:
+                return msgpack.loads(msg, use_list=True)
         except Exception as exc:
             log.critical('Could not deserialize msgpack message: {0}'
                          'This often happens when trying to read a file not in binary mode.'
diff --git a/salt/pillar/__init__.py b/salt/pillar/__init__.py
index 4bc5e8c4a896..e5f353a66d26 100644
--- a/salt/pillar/__init__.py
+++ b/salt/pillar/__init__.py
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ def render_pillar(self, matches):
         Extract the sls pillar files from the matches and render them into the
         pillar
         '''
-        pillar = {}
+        pillar = OrderedDict()
         errors = []
         for saltenv, pstates in matches.items():
             mods = set()
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ def compile_pillar(self, ext=True, pillar_dirs=None):
         top, terrors = self.get_top()
         if ext:
             if self.opts.get('ext_pillar_first', False):
-                self.opts['pillar'] = self.ext_pillar({}, pillar_dirs)
+                self.opts['pillar'] = self.ext_pillar(OrderedDict(), pillar_dirs)
                 matches = self.top_matches(top)
                 pillar, errors = self.render_pillar(matches)
                 pillar = self.merge_sources(pillar, self.opts['pillar'])
diff --git a/salt/utils/dictupdate.py b/salt/utils/dictupdate.py
index 4108de20fc4e..428da58a0884 100644
--- a/salt/utils/dictupdate.py
+++ b/salt/utils/dictupdate.py
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@
 import collections
 import six
 
+# Import salt libs
+from salt.utils.odict import OrderedDict
 
 def update(dest, upd):
     for key, val in six.iteritems(upd):
         if isinstance(val, collections.Mapping):
-            ret = update(dest.get(key, {}), val)
+            ret = update(dest.get(key, OrderedDict()), val)
             dest[key] = ret
         else:
             dest[key] = upd[key]