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 July forecast says higher than average temps for our area and lower than average precipitation. Yep, it is time to make another hard cut to the cow factory roster.
While most of the upper Midwest has gotten their due reprieve from the drought, that just means that drought moves on to other parts of the US. We have been in the bullseye for a couple of years now. Years like these, ranchers mark in their history books. We made deep cuts culling our spring herd this winter. Today the trucks came to pick up the fall calving herd. While we have received some shots of rain, it has been too little, too late. Last year was nothing to write home about and a dry fall and winter left us with parched ground and grass that was slow to start. The little shots of moisture we have received greened things up for a few days, but there just isn’t enough out there to sustain our herd numbers.
We have chased more acres of grass and fed through the dry periods the last few years, praying that this would be our year to celebrate great moisture and grass, but it just isn’t meant to be. Rather than stretching depleting equity any thinner especially with the other rising input costs, it was time to make the decision to let more cows go.
We do not take these decisions lightly. These cows are one iron cows. They were born here and lived their entire lives on this ranch. We hope that they have a future on someone else’s place. We will miss looking for them and their babies this fall. But, that’s just the way ranching goes. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
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Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 3 daughters 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 current role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
You can hear her almost every Friday on Your Ag Network’s Hot Barn Report that is broadcast on 60 radio stations with coverage in 9 states, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and highlights R-CALF’s work on industry reforms. Listen to Ranch Raised on a Your Ag Network hometown station or www.youragnetwork.com where she talks about her daily life on the 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
