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!
Nothing makes my heart swell more than seeing kids in a sale barn! It’s about like seeing kids in church! They may bring a little bit of chaos but the hope for the future that they bring is worth all of the loud footsteps and a few spilled soda pops.
Growing up, I loved going to feeder pigs sales every week and the occasional cattle sale. It was the trip to town when mom got all her groceries and dad got whatever he needed. But that sale barn, the energy was just electric and even as a little girl, I could feel it!
It is part of the reason that I don’t bat an eye to take our girls to the sale barn whenever the opportunity arises! The American cattle rancher is a dying breed. I want my kids to sit at the feet of some of the best cattle producers in around. I want them to watch those long strings, of good haired, clean calves be sent through the ring, draft after draft. I want them to watch the greatest economic transaction in the American economy happen around that ring. And I want them to dream about it being them someday bringing those kinds of lot loads to town.
I want them to have an ear on conversations between cowboys that are only heard in those sale barn seats. I want them to watch neighbors having lunch together over a hot beef special at the sale barn café.
I want them to walk away saying, “THIS is what I want to do! THIS is who I want to be!”
I am convinced that dreams are born in sale barns! Some of mine sure were!
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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
