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!
Let’s give thanks to the American Farmer & Rancher!
To be honest, there is a lot I want to say, but I’m trying to keep paddling. The headlines, the nose diving markets, it’s been a tough season in ag country. I don’t claim to know all the challenges and strife going on in the grain side of ag, but I know those farmers are facing immense financial pressure putting a crop in the bin that they will probably sell below the cost of production.
8 week ago, everyone was pulling for the cattle industry to be the bright spot to create cash flow and hold equity together in rural America. Now, many of us are hoping for a breakeven, like last year. In fact, heads are spinning if you have cattle and none of us know which way this cookie will crumble, all we know is, it is in fact crumbling.
You would have to live under a rock to not know that we are dealing with the smallest cattle inventory in decades. The baby boomers and older have taken this market opportunity to liquidate and get out while they can maybe have enough left over to buy a little hacienda down south to enjoy warmer winters. But this volatility and ag inflation doesn’t play kindly to the young pups, the few that there are, that want to cut their teeth and put together their own operation. And this fall has been proof positive that this industry is not for the faint of heart.
So this week when you are piling those holiday groceries into your cart. Please mutter a silent prayer that the farmers and ranchers that played a part in putting those groceries on the shelves and in coolers can weather this storm.
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Merriman, 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 former role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
Listen to Ranch Raised on a Your Ag Network hometown station or www.youragnetwork.com where she talks about her daily life on the Jones Ranch.
Cattle producers are her people. She will meet you at the county fair, at the sale barn, or anywhere the dusty trail leads.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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