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 just gonna say it. I think I’ll feel better. Thanks for hanging out with me on Ranch Raised.
Here I go. It is the week that I think every ranch woman dreads, branding week. Starting in about March, I start giving myself the pep talk of all the things I’m going to get done around here before branding. I was going to get my garden in earlier. I was going to have planters of brightly colored flowers adorning every corner of the house.
This place is going to look like the Dutton ranch when the neighbors pull in. But then reality hits that I have goats and chickens that often free range, both of which are drawn to those brightly colored flowers like moths to a flame. So, I just go ahead and scrap those grand ideas.
It is lists upon lists of making sure that we have all of the supplies for every ailment and sickness we might encounter. We check these cows and calves everyday, but it never fails that come branding day there is some weird abscess to be found or illness to be cured. But I’m ready. Whether we need to perform brain surgery or drain a little bump, I think I’ve got everything, but you never really know until you are in the heat of the moment.
Then there is the Christmas dinner you are preparing for all of your neighbors. Truly more important than any holiday meal you would serve to your family. These are the people that have just busted their tales and worked for you. You feel like you owe them the works! The meat, the salads, the pies. All made from love and from scratch.
I will survive another 48 hours of anxiety and worry. Then this will all just be another page in the history book.
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.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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