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!
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the ranch not a creature was stirring because they are all frozen! Thanks for ending your week with me right here on Ranch Raised.
It is a tough situation all the way around. This weather sucks every ounce of energy and mental capacity from us. You work at a break neck pace and when the weather breaks that is when the stress of the situation really seems to really take its toll. Small businesses lost a lot of potential revenue from what would historically be their biggest week of profits. I could go on and on about what mother nature has taken from all of the last few days.
But, then I look into the faces of my kids and come back to center. I have never been one to throw mounds of money at Christmas, but what we all have inside of can’t be bought in town and that is spirit.
While our holiday week may not look like a Hallmark movie, I will never forget that the greatest miracle of all happened in a barn among a herd of livestock and so it settles with me that there too is where I am meant to be.
This year does feel different for me because now, I too, have my own baby boy. He has been the best reminder that God’s timing and gift are perfection and all that we need.
As you gather with your loved ones wash away the worries. Don’t stress about the gifts that are stuck out there on a FedEx truck that will not arrive in time. Release the anxiety that dinner won’t be what you planned because the grocery store was out of so many things. Just give it all up to the good Lord.
Have a very Merry Christmas from the Jones Ranch and all of us at Your Ag Network!
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.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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