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!
I’m not sure if every State Fair has one, but at the NE State Fair there is a birthing pavilion. You can watch piglets, chicks, goats, lambs, and calves being born. If you get easily overstimulated, the birth pavilion might not be the place for you. It can be a bit overwhelming.
As many walk through that State Fair birthing pavilion, I’m sure some think, “this is actually some people’s lives? This is chaos!” It’s us. We live like that. We are “chaos”!
Yesterday morning started really early with the realization that my daughter’s heifer was going to need some assistance giving birth, which can happen in a first-time birthing scenario. Got the calf out, all was well. They look over and see a doe kidding, so she went into the newly made “goat hot box”. Which is like a goat birthing sauna.
Meanwhile up at the house, I had let in our pregnant Border Collie female to rest and continued around the house doing my thing. Then I realized I was hearing strange noises. 2 puppies appeared before my eyes! I hollered outside that Dixie was having her puppies. My husband and daughter came to see the excitement. But with so much happening down in the barn, they couldn’t stay long.
Sure enough that happy momma goat who they had left with her baby twins, had a surprise for them, TRIPLETS! Let’s just say, by 10 am, we were up 12 head around here and all of humans needed a nap but we hadn’t even started morning feeding! That was by no means the end of the excitement for the day, but I’m out of time. So I will catch you up again real soon!
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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