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!
You can’t outgive The Giver!
Maybe it is because of our remote, ranch living, maybe it’s a personality flaw, or maybe it’s because for much of our parenting years, the cattle market has busted our bank accounts and there just wasn’t much left to be spent on luxury items. But I have never been drawn to the commercialized, over buying, over the top gift giving scenario that has become the mainstream way of celebrating Christmas.
What I know, in our home is our girls are more excited about rushing down to the barn on Christmas morning to see what new baby goats arrived in the night than opening presents. Or how about the sheer delight when they can saddle up and ride on Christmas day on the years when it is nice out or wash show cattle because they know the days of being able to do those favorite things are a blessing during the winter!
Today we will run a couple of pens of cattle through to update their vaccines. Our girls will be sharpening their eyes to pick out the last few 4-H calves they need to pick out for their projects. They will beam with pride and wild imagination about their future with these calves and in all of these moments it becomes clear as day to me, “I cannot outgive The Giver!”
We are blessed to live this way. We are blessed to see the Lord all around us. And I hope we all never lose sight of all that we are given 364 days a year in addition to Christmas day!
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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
