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!
An early fall run. Thanks for joining me today on Ranch Raised.
Typically the month of August is marked with ranch activities like pulling bulls and preconditioning. But, everything about 2026 has been out of kilter, most of the year, so the fall run starting in August, while dreaded, is not a total surprise.
Yes, because of extreme drought we are seeing ranchers making the incredibly hard decision to get calves to town early this fall, like over 2 months early. My heart breaks for these ranchers. I know that they ran every possible scenario through their head and probably on paper sitting at the kitchen table. And it came down to selling the lightweight calves off early made the most sense and was necessary to save the cows.
Drought pushes you to make decisions that are not fair and even cruel. Mother Nature doesn’t have a heart. While much of central and eastern Nebraska has been scattered with moisture this past week. Our area remained high and dry. Last night while fixing a tractor in the hay field we watched lightning pop off and thunderheads build off to the east. I know both my husband and I were saying silent prayers that the clouds would back up to the west and quench our land, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
So, we continue to wait our turn for rain. And in my prayers I will continue to include every operation that I see on our area’s sale barn sheets for the week. For I know hearts are breaking across cattle country as the fall run has had to begin, not out of choice but out of necessity.
And with that, I will say, you can’t build a herd in a drought.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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