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!
Thank you for starting your week with me right here on Ranch Raised. To be honest, I feel like it is a pretty somber start to the work and with some recent events in my area, I feel drawn to talk about a subject that we occasionally cover here on Ranch Raised and that is roadway safety.
Folks, last week 2 more people lost their lives, right here in central Nebraska to accidents that involved tractors on the highway. While the investigations are not complete into these two separate incidents, the preliminary reports in the media indicate that the tractor did not cause the accident. If I had a dollar for every time, I read in one of these accident reports that a approaching vehicle clipped the back left tire of a tractor proceeding down the roadway, I would send every one of those dollars to heaven to try and bring back the life that was taken in these accidents!
I feel like a broken record always saying, “SLOW DOWN and put your phone down!” But apparently, we have not covered it enough because once again, two lives were lost in separate accidents involving farm machinery this weekend near me.
When you see farm machinery coming towards you on the roadway or if you are approaching from behind, it does not mean it is “go time.” Slow down, look around, and proceed with caution. Twice in my travels to Rapid City and back this past week, I slowed down and put my hazard lights, and followed the tractor at a more than safe distance until it was safe for me to slowly proceed around them.
As we start a new school year, I want your kids and family to return to your home safely every night. So please have this conversation with your teenage drivers.
Let’s all do our part to keep our roadways safe!
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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