Annual Soil Health Tour at Sage Brush Sand Hills Ranch

Seven sponsoring agencies provided the funding for a soil health tour, last Tuesday to Wine Glass Ranch, Imperial, Nebraska. This ranch is the 2022 Leopold Conservation Award recipient for the State of Nebraska. 

During the ride to the ranch Troy Munsch, KACD-ADM, Brian Sorensen, KAWS-WRAPS, and Jeremy Jacobs, NRCS, presented information oncover crop payment options, livestock watering options and conservation practices available for cost-share.

Logan Pribbeno, the 5th gener- ation family member on the ranch, met the tour at the ranch headquarters for a question-and-answer session. The attendees asked a variety of questions. Specifics on the breeding stock for the cross-bred cow herd, number of acres for a cow-calf pair and the calving season were reviewed. Their goal is to calve in sync with mother nature and the stocking rate is set to "maximize yield, not individual animal performance." Their cows calve on the range in May and wean a 400 lb. calf in November. Cows then go to corn stalks as quickly as possible and graze those fields without being supplemented. Cows graze 365 days per year, including the winter of 22-23. The ranch usually feeds no hay.

The Pribbeno family was an early proponent of minimum tillage, then later began no-tilling their acres, which are all dryland.  Planting rates and crop rotations using wheat, corn and cover crops were also discussed. 

Those on the tour enjoyed the family history that was shared. Including the story about Logan's great, great- grandmother nursing her first born in the family soddy. A rattlesnake dropped down from the ceiling. She said she would be back after a house was built. Two years later, she returned.

After a catered lunch, the tour then headed off to see how the ranch uses their dryland and range land acres.  

The ranch, which was established in 1888 as the Lone Star Ranch by Sherman McCoy, great-great-grandfather of Logan Pribbeno, uses rotational grazing and a variety of cover crop options for their crossbred cow herd. The ranch uses a grass farming mentality. Cover crop mixes are planted on dry land acres owned by the ranch. Additionally, rye – used as a cover crop - is drilled on rented irrigated land after corn harvest. This extends the grazing timeline for the cow herd and works well with the rotational grazing program used by the ranch on their native rangeland.They firmly believe grazing crops reduces machinery costs in their livestock operation.

More than 900 replacement heifers were currently grazing a corn field. Because of a pollination and disease problem, grazing was going to be the ranch's best option to use that field. They understand the need to change plans during a grazing season to adapt to what Mother Nature has handed out.

Wine Glass Ranch has used various NRCS cost-share programs to increase grazing production. Less desirable farmland has been enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. Grazing strips and field borders with pollinator plants provide cover and habitat for both wildlife and beneficial insects. Tour participants walked a pollinator plot with a playa wetland. Logan said areas like that rarely produce a crop. Planting this back to native pollinators was a benefit to the ranch and wildlife. This year, while checking crop fields for insects, it was noted the beneficial insects were providing adequate control of insects that would normally have needed spraying. Windbreaks have been established to provide cover for wildlife and protection from the wind for their livestock. Several tour participants noted the size of windbreaks in the area. Four to six row windbreaks were common. Watering facilities, includ- ing pipelines and tire tanks, are used throughout the range land to increase grazing distribution. High tensile fencing is the fencing of choice on the ranch.

Lori Yelken, Burr Oak was the winner of the $100 cover crop gift certificate donated by Star Seed Inc., Osborne.