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!
The season of birth! Literally! Thanks for joining me today on Ranch Raised.
This is a tale of a couple of forgotten billy goats who never got separated from the herd this summer because apparently it slipped everyone’s mind and we told ourselves in a fog of denial, “I mean they may have had fun with one or two and got them bred up early but certainly not the entire herd.” Well, apparently over the hills, out of eyesight from our faithful shepherds this summer, there indeed was more romance than we knew about because we just finished a whirlwind kidding session! In the matter of a week we have 18 new little faces greeting us in the barn!
Now, the remarkable part of this story is these nannies would have all kidded last spring, so they literally just double cropped, which makes my husband very happy! And for those of you who don’t know the gestation period of a goat is 5 months.
This makes for a few more chores but also a few more smiles. When I go down to the barn, late at night to do a quick head count, shut all the doors, feed the two little bottle babies and turn out the lights, I can’t help but be whisked away mentally to another little barn, from long ago where a miracle happened. Was there a motley crew of cluckers looking down? Were there sheep and goats snuggled together? Was there a Border Collie or two or four keeping the herd in check?
And when I look at the scene before my eyes, I bet you can see my heart glow. For I know that miracles truly do happen in a barn!
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.
[email protected] or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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