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Prairie dog occupation of rangelands is often seen as a detriment to beef production because of altered plant communities and reduced quantity of forage. Within northern mixed grass prairie, plant communities on prairie dog colonies are often converted to low growing perennial grasses intermixed with patches dominated by annual forbs. Previous studies have indicated that prairie dog occupation can increase forage quality within town sites, and have evaluated impacts of prairie dog towns on cattle performance. Few studies have evaluated how cattle utilize various prairie dog town plant communities in terms of grazing preference. A study was conducted in 2012-2015 near McLaughlin, South Dakota in a mixed grass prairie ecosystem to assess cattle preference for plant communities on (PD) and off (NPD) prairie dog towns. Four 202 ha pastures were fenced with varying levels of prairie dog occupation (0%, 18%, 40%, and 75%). Each pasture was stocked with yearling steers grazed season-long from June to October. A subset of steers within each pasture were outfitted with Lotek 3300LR GPS collars equipped with motion sensors to help discriminate grazing versus non-grazing behaviors. During 2014 and 2015, satellite imagery was collected. Remote sensing techniques were used to establish training sites and classify vegetation communities into annual forb dominated plant communities on town (PD-F), perennial grass dominated sites on town (PD-G), and grass dominated sites off town (NPD-G). GPS data correlated to grazing behavior was then used to assess cattle grazing preferences of PD and NPD plant communities throughout each grazing season. Understanding cattle grazing behavior can improve opportunities to manage prairie dog occupied pastures for livestock performance and to optimize rangeland health.