A field day is scheduled near Mahto, South Dakota, on Aug. 20 to report the progress of efforts to develop a natural beef production enterprise on the Standing Rock Reservation. 

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. In case of bad weather, the event will be held at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates.

The 2.2-million-acre reservation straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border and is home to about 9,000 people. The beef enterprise is part of a multiyear project to improve the land and lives of the people on the reservation.

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Community, Sitting Bull College, NDSU, South Dakota State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service are partnering on this project.

The field day includes four 30-minute educational tours and beef taste testing, plus a noon meal and refreshments. Project partners also are giving away 200 pounds of ground beef as door prizes.

The tours will cover prairie dogs as important ecosystem engineers, grassland- dependent bird species and burrowing owls, grassland enclosures and rangeland rehabilitation, animal science and nutrition, and highlights of recent cooking camps for kids and food safety lessons for adults.

To reach the field day site, drive seven miles east of McLaughlin. South Dakota, on U.S. Highway 12, then three miles north toward Mahto. Turn into the pasture just before reaching Mahto.

Attending the field day is free of charge. For more information about the event, contact project director Rob Maddock, an associate professor in the NDSU Department of Animal Sciences and Extension Service meats specialist, at 701-231-8975 or robert.maddock@ndsu.edu.

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