A generational ranch in Pierpont offers visitors a unique agritourism opportunity.
The couple running the operation say educating the public on beef and agriculture is vital now more than ever.
Clint and Kelly Brandlee own and operate Back Forty Beef LLC. The ranch, which has generational roots, aims to help people discover where their food comes from.
Clint is a fifth-generation farmer and rancher whose ancestors settled in South Dakota.
“Our family immigrated here back in 1886 from Germany and Norway. Settled in the prairie pothole region of the Coteau Hills here, been farming the same ground for the last 100-something years. I farm with my dad and my mom and then also my wife Kelly who has an off-the-farm job, and we have two daughters,” said Clint.
The Brandlees farm corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and run an angus cattle operation of 300 cows. They also offer an annual adventure farm with a 12-acre corn maze that offers educational facts on beef and agriculture.
Visitors get a close up with farm animals, crawl through a hay tunnel, and experience local food trucks.
Clint Brandlee said it’s important to educate the public on where their food comes from while incorporating local businesses in the process. .
“People nowadays are four generations removed from the farm and have literally no idea how their food is made, how it's grown, or what goes on on a typical farm now and days. So, we came up with the idea of the corn maze. So on the corn maze we have different checkpoints that are sponsored by local businesses, because we really wanted to include the area," said Brandlee. "If you go around town to town, main streets are shrinking, they're kind of dying. But there are still businesses here. So we really wanted to still promote the local businesses.”
The Brandlees were awarded AgVocates of the Year by Agriculture United for South Dakota in 2021. The award recognized the Brandlees' work in sharing agricultural information in their communities and volunteering in an Adopt-A-Farmer program which provides outreach to students.
While participating in the program, Kelly Brandlee decided nothing should be wasted in the processing of their cattle. So, she started creating beef tallow and soy wax blended candles. She said the candles reduce overall waste and help her family farm reach a new market.
“From a beef animal we get the things that we eat like steak, hamburgers, roasts, all that good stuff. But then we also take the fat and we use it for things like this and our cosmetics. Also, beef is used widely in pharmaceuticals, to help with curing illnesses or creating medicines," said Brandlee. "So nothing goes to waste, I thought, 'I don’t want this beef fat to go to waste so we are going to use it.'”
She said expanding into a new market and offering public education on beef and agricultural facts follows the “why” of their operation.
“Our why is the future, our kids. So, we have this farm, and we want to be able to have it for our daughters if they ever decided they wanted to come back and farm. So we wanted to have options for them. By doing the corn maze, doing something with the tallow candles, and having the beef, hopefully we can get to a point where if both of our daughters want to come back we can have them both,” said Brandlee.
The Brandlees operate their adventure farm and corn maze the weekend after Labor Day through the last weekend of October.
This story is part of an SDPB series on agritourism operations in South Dakota. Previous stories covered an organic farm in Sturgis, a historical bed and breakfast near the Badlands, and a hunting outfitter in Spearfish.
