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!
Lessons of carrying the workload! Thanks for joining me today on Ranch Raised!
I grew up like many of you, carrying a heavy workload. Nobody questioned kids running tractors and heavy equipment. I didn’t do a single athletic activity during the summer. I didn’t even know those options were available. I was driving tractors down the highway before I was legally driving a car.
I think it is obvious to all of us that we see a lot less of that today, except if you were to come down to the Jones Ranch! We still believe that our kids can do hard things and carry some of the workload right along side of us and it won’t kill them. This spring we tested our oldest two harder than ever. With having cattle at two ranches, nearly 250 miles apart, there were times that both my husband and I were needed at one ranch, leaving them to feed cattle and take care of business at the other place. For a 17 and 14 year old girls they pulled their weight, got the job done, and when there were challenges they had no one there to save them. They had to problem solve and execute what they thought was the best solution.
And it’s like that in hayfield. I watch as my kids have to negotiate bumps and turns. They have to look ahead and plan out the next 30 seconds in their head. While looking ahead, they also have to keep a close watch on what is going on behind them. But what these experiences also teach them is when they do make a mistake, which we all do, if they can’t solve it themselves, they can come to us as parents to help get them out of a jam. And those are the lessons I hope my kids tuck away and keep with them forever.
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Merriman, 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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