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 parched earth drinks and the famished seeds feast!” Thanks for joining me today on Ranch Raised.
What beautiful moisture we have received in our area the last few days. I mean we did have plans to brand the last big bunch of calves this weekend but no one was complaining with the rain that gently fell for the past two days.
Unless you live this life I don’t think you understand how a good soaking rain is truly a balm to the soul, a supernatural high that can not be experienced by any other means. Our livelihood is so dependent on Mother Nature’s mood. She can giveth and she can taketh away. Well, she quenched the parched earth that was desperate for a drink. When we receive life sustaining moisture like this, it fills our buckets with hope that our prayers are not forgotten. It keeps us humble in only ways Mother Nature can. And it makes the heart swell in ways that can not be measured.
These hills have come alive with a shade of emerald green that sets a rancher’s soul on fire. The ponds and lakes are filled up. And it paints a picture that truly makes you forget any other troubles you might have.
Branding that group of calves will have to wait as now we are head first into another AI project and then the kids have some cattle shows coming up. But, we will quietly persist and happily pivot our plans if it means the grass is growing because the words of my late grandpa ring in my head, “if you are in the cattle business, you are always making money when it is raining.”
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
Follow Karina Jones on Facebook!
