Ranch Raised with Karina Jones – Losing Sleep

May 13, 2026 Karina Jones Featured, Ranch Raised 0

 

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!

Losing sleep! Thanks for joining me today on Ranch Raised!

We worked another bunch of calves yesterday, so when nightfall came I thought I was more than ready to slip off to dreamland. We cracked the window in our bedroom and I just knew the cool night air would usher me off to a great night’s rest. Only it didn’t happen that way.

When my head hit the pillow my mind suddenly came awake with all of life’s challenges. Instead of counting sheep, all I could think about was the hay bale counts in each hay yard, and yes, that count is very, very bleak! Last year we started haying on July 10. That will not be happening in 2026, at least not on this place. To look at these meadows, I’m wondering if we will put up any hay this year. 

 I kept thinking about these rolling Sandhills that we’ve been traveling across to reach windmills to check and repair. Have I mentions how hard the gale force winds were on windmills this winter? Our missions have a secondary purpose, we are also checking grass, which is mostly just not there. Our pastures that we only lightly grazed last year or didn’t graze at all, are where the best options are, but unfortunately there aren’t enough of those acres to sustain our whole herd. So that turned my nocturnal contemplation into sorting cattle in my head and which group should go to town next.

At 3:45 this morning I got up and out of bed to go get a drink. My husband asked me what was wrong, and I shot back, “This night just won’t end and I just can’t get to sleep.” And that is how I feel about this drought, “It just won’t end!” 

karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones


Follow Karina Jones on Facebook!

About Karina Jones 486 Articles
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.