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!
It’s midweek, the birds are chirping, the grass is growing, and it is shaping up to be an all-around great day so thanks for tuning in to Ranch Raised!
We are in the hustle and bustle of the spring season where every day is a sprint but the month of May is a marathon. Off the ranch there are those all important, end of the school year activities. I enjoyed a lovely morning yesterday celebrating my 6th grader and her classes graduation on to the big leagues of junior high.
My favorite part of the ceremony was when they told what each kid wanted to be or had future plans for. I love learning about my kids’ peers and their interests. My daughter had just been decorated with the highest academic honors and then it was shared that her future plans are to travel the country and show cattle. I guess that is the true definition of “ranch raised” if you are thinking about your cows while you are at school and even more affirming if you are already to committing to them being part of your future as a 6th grader.
My little first grader also earned her fair share of accolades with the biggest highlight being named the top reader in the kindergarten to second grade division. We have a mantra around her that “readers are leaders.” All those winter evenings reading to her baby brother paid off!
We concluded the afternoon with that annual tradition of the elementary school field day and that is when you know we’ve checked all the boxes are ready to say goodbye to the school year.
Now it’s time to bring on summer for these ranch kids!
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children 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, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and 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 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.
[email protected] or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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