Gordon High grad Tony Malmberg details Holistic Management in new book

By Scott Bidroski

A man whose roots are solidly driven into the Sandhills of Northwest Nebraska is changing the modern ways of ranching.

Tony Malmberg, who graduated from Gordon High School in 1975, released a book in April of this year titled “Green Grass in the Spring, A Cowboy’s Guide to Saving the World.”

The book focuses on Holistic Management and how the modern day rancher can make choices to create more life through their ranch.

As you may imagine, the book delves into detailed practices in Holistic Management utilizing  the multitude of years of experience and learning that Malmberg has acquired. I could fill an entire newspaper with a synopsis of the pages but instead, I encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself.

Ranching for Malmberg has been a way a life beginning when he was born in Valentine in 1956.

His family made the move to west in 1958 to work on the Dan Hill ranch, 25 miles south of Gordon.

Malmberg, along with his 4 siblings, attended one-room country school at Hinchley School before eventually graduating from Gordon High School.

Those early experiences here in Sheridan County left a lasting imprint on Malmberg.

“The Nebraska Sandhills are simply a sweet spot in the universe and the best cattle country,” said Malmberg.

“No matter where I go, hands from the Sandhills are the best cowboys and cowgirls. Grass, water, and springtime can’t be beat,” he added.

Malmberg has spent time in his field all throughout the United States and seen many ranches.

This experience has led him to an expertise in the field of Holistic Management.

“Every ranch has different geography, climate and precipitation, different markets, and different sociopolitical realities,” said Malmberg.

“However, every ranch is the same. I have been involved in the management of ranches in Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, Hawaii, Montana, South Dakota, Florida, and New Zealand. Every ranch sits on an ecosystem involving a water cycle, a nutrient cycle, community dynamics, and energy flow,” he added.

In his book, Malmberg goes into great detail on how a rancher can follow the lead of nature and create a more profitable and stable environment.

“If you are a conventional rancher, like I was, you will be amazed at how much easier, profitable, and interesting ranching will be as we learn to mimic nature,” said Malmberg.

“If you are not a rancher, you will become intrigued with the knowledge and skill necessary to rebuild a functional ecosystem and keep a safe environment. You will become motivated to support those in agriculture who keep your planet safe,” he added.

The book also features a foreword from a connection to the area, Deer Creek rancher Kelly Brink.

The pair spent time working together and Brink praises Malmberg for his knowledge he shared with him and the knowledge that is bestowed upon everyone throughout the pages of this book.

When asked how this book can benefit ranchers in the Sandhills, like Brink, Malmberg delivers yet another nugget of knowledge.

“Sandhill ranchers, like ranchers in Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Wyoming’s sagebrush steppe, Montana’s shortgrass prairie, California’s mediterranean climate, need to know they have a unique context, sitting on the same environment, with access to the same tools as every resource manager on the planet,” said Malmberg.

“The most powerful tool in the universe is Human Creativity. If we can leverage that, at the soil surface, our species will not only live another day but we will thrive.”

The book is available for purchase wherever books are sold.