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!
Oh Come All Ye Faithful! Welcome to a special Christmas edition of Ranch Raised.
Last week I had an episode that talked about Christmas being different when you own cows. Today, we are feeling it to the extreme here at the Jones Ranch along with every other farm and ranch in the upper midwest. We have had a doozy of a blizzard blow in which started with rain Saturday night to get everything soaked and sloppy before the snow and relentless wind came.
It is a hard a time, if I’m being honest. My girls are trying to be in the best spirits while walking into a north wind that is trying its best to knock them onto their backside while they are out opening gates, cutting frozen twines and net wrap, and feeding cattle with us. I have a baby boy who just doesn’t understand why he can’t go out with us, so we each take turns staying in the house with him, so he doesn’t blow to Kansas.
Then I walked into the barn yesterday afternoon, to find a slew of animals that the girls had brought inside because they just didn’t have the heart to leave them out in the storm. Like their show heifers that are practically their family. The old mare, Ruby, who just carried my nephew around earlier this week while he was here visiting. A few of the younger goats, the barn cat, the chickens scratching and of course the Border Collie kennels bedded down with old blankets and towels.
And then I am reminded that so long ago, in a land far away. There was a plain ole barn, full of a menagerie of animals, just like this, where the greatest gift of all time was born. And it reminds me that we are exactly where we need to be.
Merry Christmas from our barn to yours!
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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