A. A person who owns livestock shall have and adopt a brand for them. The brand shall be applied with a hot iron on each animal except registered livestock that are properly identified by a legible tattoo and whose owner has been issued a certificate of brand exemption for the owner's herd by the board. Each brand shall be recorded in the office of the board.

B. Goats or sheep are not required to be branded with a hot iron. Goats or sheep may be identified by a legible tattoo, paint brand or other device as approved by the board.

C. Unbranded livestock, except offspring with a branded mother or offspring with a mother properly identified as provided in Subsection G of this section, shall be subject to seizure by a peace officer or livestock inspector and shall be handled and disposed of in the same manner as is provided for the handling and disposal of estrays.

D. Livestock that are purchased shall be rebranded by the new owner with the new owner's recorded brand within thirty days, except as provided in Section 77-9-4 NMSA 1978.

E. Subsection A of this section shall not apply to a person owning horses, mules or asses who has been issued a transportation permit as provided in Section 77-9-42 NMSA 1978 or who has a registration certificate for an animal from a recognized breed association or to any person owning horses, mules or asses that have been identified by a freeze mark or a freeze brand recorded with the board. Freeze branding or freeze mark identification requires an iron, first submerged in a bath of liquid nitrogen, to be applied on each animal, resulting in a permanent loss of color in the hair or cessation of hair growth where the brand or mark has been applied.

F. This section does not apply to bison, swine, poultry, ratites, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae.

G. This section does not apply to a person who owns cattle in confinement at a dairy or feedlot and who has elected to identify the cattle by an alternative means approved by the board for cattle held in those facilities. If cattle held in confinement and identified in accordance with this subsection are removed from confinement and otherwise held in the state, the provisions of Subsection A of this section shall be met prior to removal, unless the cattle are being delivered to an approved auction.

History: Laws 1895, ch. 6, § 1; C.L. 1897, § 106; Code 1915, § 117; C.S. 1929, § 4-1403; Laws 1941, ch. 40, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 49-903; Laws 1951, ch. 67, § 1; 1953 Comp., § 47-9-3; Laws 1975, ch. 139, § 2; 1985, ch. 60, § 1; 1993, ch. 248, § 43; 1999, ch. 282, § 47; 2015, ch. 22, § 2.

Cross references. — For the New Mexico livestock board, see 77-2-2 NMSA 1978.

The 2015 amendment, effective June 19, 2015, provided that goats and sheep are not required to be branded, but may be identified by other means approved by the New Mexico livestock board, and added certain animals that are exempt from the branding requirements in this section; in Subsection A, after "exemption for", deleted "his" and added "the new owner's"; added Subsection B and redesignated the succeeding Subsections accordingly; in Subsection D, after "that", deleted "is" and added "are", and after "with", deleted "his" and added "the owner's"; in Subsection F, after "bison,", added "swine, poultry, ratites, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae"; in Subsection G, after "identify", deleted "his" and added "the".

The 1999 amendment, effective July 1, 1999, inserted "by a legible tattoo" in the second sentence of Subsection A; inserted "or offspring with a mother properly identified as provided in Subsection E of this section" and substituted "livestock inspector" for "any duly authorized livestock inspector appointed by the board" in Subsection B; substituted "except as provided in Section 77-9-44 NMSA 1978" for "of the purchase date unless he is given special permission by the board or by the former owner to use the recorded brand of the seller appearing on the livestock" in Subsection C; added "Subsection A of" at the beginning of Subsection D; added Subsections E and F; and made stylistic changes throughout the section.

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, deleted "New Mexico livestock" preceding "board" in four places; deleted "neat cattle or" preceding "any cattle" in the first sentence of Subsection A; deleted "now or may hereafter be" following "as is" in Subsection B; and added "recorded with the board" at the end of the first sentence of Subsection D.

The 1985 amendment divided the former first sentence in Subsection A into two sentences deleting "said" following "animals" at the end of the present first sentence and substituting "The brand shall be" for "brand to be" at the beginning of the present second sentence, substituted "Each brand" for "Each such brand" at the beginning of the last sentence in Subsection A, substituted "Section 77-9-42 NMSA 1978" for "Section 47-9-38.1 NMSA 1953" near the beginning of Subsection D and added the material following "recognized breed association" near the middle of Subsection D.

Owners must adopt mark and brand. — This section requires that every person owning animals of the classes enumerated in the section, which are allowed to range at large, shall have and adopt a mark and brand for such animals. Barnett v. Wedgewood, 1922-NMSC-068, 28 N.M. 312, 211 P. 601.

A cattle brand used in Colorado may be used in this state, if the New Mexico laws are complied with as to recording. 1914 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 14-1181.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 4 Am. Jur. 2d Animals § 8.

3A C.J.S. Animals §§ 15 to 17, 22, 25.