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!
If you missed the first part of my road trip story you can catch it on the YAN app or website! I traveled 350 miles in one day and didn’t even find a stop light!
I got to roll through some small towns that I have never visited in my state. Literally the types of little towns where the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker are still in business.
Okay, maybe I made that part up. What I did not see in my travels was a single big box store or billboard or mall. Because that is not the part of America I was traveling through. I was traveling through a part of my America where little towns still celebrate the State High School Football champions from 2010 with a sign on the outskirts of town. I was traveling through a part of my America where the business people were out hanging greenery and Christmas lights on the beautiful Tuesday. So I stopped my car right in the middle of mainstreet, rolled down my window and said, “Excuse me. Can you tell me where the sale barn is?” I’m so thankful to live in a part of America where I can still do that. And when I got to that sale barn, just a few blocks off of mainstreet, the parking lot was full. And inside were my people! Men and women in jeans and work boots. And kids! Oh how I love seeing kids in sale barns seats! And a sale barn café that steady and busy all day.
The sun set on my adventure while still traveling home. I got to experience the town square in one little town lit up like, well, you know, a Christmas tree. It honestly could have been the setting of a Hallmark movie.
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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.
[email protected] or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
