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!
May is beef month and I want to celebrate the men, women and families that feed this nation and the world with highest quality protein!
You’re out with your family for a meal to celebrate,
You order that cut of prime beef with no need to deliberate.
But what the consumer that we value so much doesn’t know,
Is the care and hard work that it took to get that steer to grow.
You see a family in Wyoming with kids only knee high,
Started their cattle herd with high hopes of giving the cowboy legacy a try.
The blizzards and droughts tried their hardest to beat them down,
It took every last bit of grit and courage to get the calf crop to town.
There were silent tears that fell on the pillow at night.
Can a family make it out west raising cattle and kids, it has become such a fight.
They put their trust in the hands of the folks at Torrington Livestock in the fall,
They knew they would need every last dollar and dime when the banker did call.
Those fresh bawlers went on their way,
Headed to a Sandhills ranch for their next few months stay.
They were then cared for by a fine family who backgrounded them through the tough winter weeks,
Knowing that spring would soon come and these steers would be turned out on the green pastures soon to peak.
The cattle do what cattle do best.
They take that old grass and turn into pounds of muscle to be put to the test.
The boys did good on that Sandhills grass,
Now they are headed to Basset Livestock Auction to take a spin around their sale ring at last!
Come back tomorrow I’ve got more of this tale to share
About these men and women are than just cow punchers they really do for their land and livestock care!
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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