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!
Raising kids on a busy ranch is not for the faint of heart. To be honest, our kids sacrifice a lot. Our kids’ lives do not look mainstream or much like that of their friends and peers. This reality seems to be magnified on their birthdays.
Today we celebrate the 14th trip around the sun for my second oldest daughter. We have held many brandings on her birthday. We have paired out and went to grass on this day in the past. We have pulled CIDRS, but today is special. This year, we are AIing on her birthday! Just what every 14 year old girl dreams of right? Only she is kind of dreaming big. Her show heifer was in heat this morning, so that means tonight I will AI her and it would make my daughter’s dreams come true if she got a Good Times heifer calf out of this mating! She also woke to another special gift. Her show heifer from last year gave birth to heifer calf overnight. Yes, this is a little later than we would like a heifer to calve, but this poor girl lost her pregnancy at the county fair last year, so any calf was better than the alternative.
While I love baking my kids’ birthday cakes, I knew I would probably be AIing today, so I didn’t argue with her request one bit to grab an ice cream cake in town.
While birthdays and holidays probably look different for your family than they do mine. I hold on to the hope that if we cover our kids with enough love they won’t feel slighted by the lack of gifts to open or the pomp & circumstance that didn’t happen.
Okay, everyone, send this girl some birthday love and prayers for her wish of a Good Times heifer calf to come true!
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.
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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