Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
The boys are back in town….I mean back to the ranch!
Thanks for tuning your radio dial to Ranch Raised for this midweek check in.
It is the time of year when romance is waning. Cattle producers across the land are checking their bovine gestational pocket calendars to see when it is time to separate the boys from the girls. We call this process, “pulling bulls.”
Pulling bulls is a management decision that serves many purposes. If you have the specific dates of when you put your bulls in with your cows and when you take them out, then you know the specific dates of when you will be calving and you can be prepared. Many ranchers opt for a 45 or 60 target window of calving. This helps create uniformity in a calf crop that will be pretty much of equal age and size when the producer goes to market their calves.
Pulling bulls can go one of two ways. Sometimes we show up to the pasture and find bulls that have worked hard all breeding season and practically meet us at the gate waiting for the trailer door to swing open, so they can jump in and catch a ride outta there.
Then there are times you have to deal with some young bucks that don’t know the drill yet and they give you a run for your money running to every tree, pond, and obstacle in sight.
Pulling bulls is a ranch activity highlight for the adrenalin junkie. I used to be right in the mix of it all, either with my uncle or husband. But now, I have 3 girls that saddle up and go along. And I wait right back here at home to hear all of the stories and recap. So, cheers to another season on the ranch, of pulling bulls!
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Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 3 daughters near Broken Bow, NE. She grew up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD. The cattle industry and raising kids is her passion.
Watching the cattle industry go the path that it has gone, she could no longer sit quietly at home checking cows, fixing fence, and doing all the everyday tasks wondering when some else was going to make it all better. As she became more active and outspoken on industry issues, she was asked to join the R-CALF USA staff in September 2020 as the Checkoff Petition Campaign manager. That position transcended into her current role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
You can hear her almost every Friday on Your Ag Network’s Hot Barn Report that is broadcast on 60 radio stations with coverage in 9 states, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and highlights R-CALF’s work on industry reforms. Listen to Ranch Raised on a Your Ag Network hometown station or www.youragnetwork.com where she talks about her daily life on the ranch.
Cattle producers are her people. She will meet you at the county fair, at the sale barn, or anywhere the dusty trail leads.
[email protected] or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
