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!
Early to bed, early to rise, except during NFR week! Thanks for joining me today for Ranch Raised.
If I’m being completely honest, I should probably apologize to my kids’ teachers. There may be some random yawns and far off stares. What can I say, it is NFR week and my kids usually stay up to watch each night’s performance.
I know they could watch the replay in the morning before school, but it just isn’t the same. So, I do usually fall to their pleas and let them stay up to watch especially the barrel racing. There are probably worse parenting fails out there than letting my girls cheer on the amazing women and dream about being a woman like Lisa Lockhart both in and out of the arena.
It is business as usual in the morning. Everyone has made the school bus on time. No one has fallen asleep in class, at least that I know of. And in a few days, we will be back to our regularly scheduled bedtime.
For my kids, like so many involved in the western way of life, the NFR is a week to dream. A week to imagine the excitement of being a kid from a little map dot town making it to the big lights of Vegas.
So, I encourage all those kids, like mine to hitch your wagon to your favorite rodeo star. Keep dreaming of how far you could go, if you worked hard enough. Because kids from little towns, make it big everyday!
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 former 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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