Wine Glass Ranch: A Model of Soil Health and Resilience

If there’s a conventional practice or attitude anywhere on Wine Glass Ranch, the Pribbenos keep it well hidden.

The Imperial, Nebraska, operation — this year’s national Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) winner — hasn’t stayed in the family for five generations by following convention; for decades, the Pribbenos have challenged accepted practices by becoming enthusiastic adopters of rotational grazing, taking care of the land first, and treating their cattle as tools used to harvest grass and forage crops. It’s a legacy that Logan and Brianna Pribbeno, the latest generation to take the reins at Wine Glass, are proud to carry forward.

“We are stewards of the ground,” Logan said, “and we know that high-quality beef starts with taking care of the land. That’s really what we do and what we are all about at Wine Glass Ranch.”

Logan’s enthusiasm may sound like a reflection of the latest in regenerative thinking, but the family’s commitment to soil health and biodiversity was set in place decades ago by Logan’s father, Jeff Pribbeno.

“My dad started the conservation mindset, so I'm a second-generation conservationist,” Logan said. “He started rotational grazing in the '90s. In high school, my brother and I probably built close to 100 miles of high-tensile fence, and I can't tell you how much cornstalk fence. So, when I came back to the ranch, those systems were already in place. I’m just trying to continue and improve on the work that he’s done.”

Multigenerational Stewardship

The fact that he’s continuing the family’s ranching tradition is something of a surprise. Logan freely admits that, as a young man, he didn’t see ranching in his future. But a High Plains epiphany at an impressionable age changed the course of his life and showed him a future that included the multigenerational operation.

“When I was younger, I wanted to get away from my parents, I wanted to get away from Nebraska. But then something happened when I was 18,” Logan said. “I was working out on the ranch, and I just thought, ‘You know what? This Plains landscape is it; it’s ‘the thing.’ And this is a unique opportunity, and I need to take advantage of it.’”

But before Logan was given responsibility for stewardship of the ranch, Jeff insisted that he leave for 10 years to get an education and build a resume outside of farming. Logan headed west to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he went to school and found himself working for a financial consulting firm. It was an experience that he believes prepared him well for the challenges of ranching in the arid Plains environment.

“I graduated in 2006, and then the financial crisis hit in 2008,” he said. “There were massive layoffs; I always say my first drought was in the Bay Area in 2008. But it taught us that, to survive, you have to be ready to pivot, and we did.”

Today, nearly 20 years after that Bay Area drought, Logan and Brianna have brought fresh thinking to an operation that was already well-known for a willingness to challenge convention.

“Logan’s done a really good job of taking what we’re doing here and pushing it to the next level,” Jeff said. “I’ve spent my whole life planting trees, adding water and doing everything I can do to add diversity because it’s just good for the land and it’s good for the animals. Once we started to cross-fence our pastures and develop them with water, for example, we immediately saw an improvement in the condition of the range and the performance of the cows.”

Cutting Inputs, Improving Rangeland Productivity

Following his father’s lead, Logan takes a holistic view of the operation, with the understanding that improving the quality and health of the soil will be repaid in improved herd performance. One of his first contributions after returning to the ranch was the establishment of a cover crop rotation.

“Today, that’s a key part of our rotation on our farm ground,” he said. “Thirty to 40% of our farm ground is in full-season cover crops, and they work well with the cattle program that we’ve developed. And so all our cover crops, we’re able to plant and then graze. We’ll graze the best and leave the rest for the benefit of our soil health.”

Anything they can do to boost soil health is welcome on the rangelands that may only see nine to 10 inches of precipitation per year.

“Sand Hills rangeland typically produces low-quality, high-quantity crops,” he said. “Cover crops are significantly better quality, so it just allows us to handle our stockers better than if we were just strictly range.”

In addition to benefitting the cattle, Logan says their cover crop rotation pays off when the time comes to plant wheat or other commodity crops.

“The cover crops allow us to spend less money,” he said, “especially at a time right now when corn and soybeans are generally below the cost of production. We'll monetize the cover crops by grazing and spend significantly less on seed and inputs than we would with a commodity crop. And what that cover crop does is, it rests your soil for a year. It provides an ample amount of cover that can act as fertilizer and as a herbicide, and sets the farm up for success when we do plant those grain crops.”

Logan considers the ranch fortunate to face as little weed pressure as it does. Tordon® 22K herbicide handles woody species such as Eastern red cedar, but as for the rest?

“In the Sand Hills, we are really blessed,” he says. “Almost anything that we would call a weed, a cow will willingly eat.”

The Herd as a Tool for Rangeland Management

Today, Logan brings an analyst’s mindset to ranch operations — unsurprising, considering his earlier experience in finance. That mindset is reflected in the language he uses to describe goals and roles.

“Cattle are the cash flow tool that we use to keep this grassland intact,” Logan said. “They’re critical to managing our grasslands and to providing the cash flow that we need to keep this as a perennial grassland. Our job is to define the parameters we need them to work within and then put them in the driver’s seat and let them go. Their labor is free, after all.”

Logan has also worked to establish relationships with area corn growers, most of whom are more than happy to have the Wine Glass herd graze down their corn stubble and fertilize the soil as only ruminants can.

“One of our advantages here is access to cornstalks,” he says. “So, while there’s not a lot of opportunity to expand our rangeland, most of the corn growers around us don’t own cattle anymore, so we provide the cattle and everyone gets the benefits.”

By any objective measurement, the Pribbenos’ approach has paid off. Each of the ranch’s roughly 100 paddocks is grazed only twice per year, meaning that roughly 90% of the ranch is resting at any one time. Fertilizer applications on the farm ground have been reduced dramatically, if not completely eliminated. A wide range of plant life thrives in the difficult soil, including high-nutrition grasses such as sand bluestem, big bluestem and Indian grass.

But perhaps the most significant value, at least for Jeff Pribbeno, is the role family has played in maintaining and continuing the Wine Glass Ranch legacy.

“Keeping the ranch going and having family involved and improving the land,” Jeff said, “is everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Stewards of the Land

ESAP celebrates outstanding land stewards in the cattle industry and selected Wine Glass Ranch as the 2025 national winner. The program recognizes cattlemen and cattlewomen from every corner of the country who continuously undertake stewardship efforts unique to their environment, landscape and resources. Corteva Agriscience proudly supports these efforts as the longest-tenured sponsorsfor this prestigious industry program.

Hear more from the Pribbenos in this video and keep reading about pasture management at RangeAndPasture.com/Steward.

Tordon® 22K is a Restricted Use Pesticide.  Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Always read and follow label directions.