As used in The Livestock Code:

1. A. "animals" or "livestock" means all domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch, including the carcasses thereof, and exotic animals in captivity and includes equines, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae upon any land in New Mexico. "Animals" or "livestock" does not include canine or feline animals;
2. B. "bill of sale" means an instrument in substantially the form specified in The Livestock Code by which the owner or the owner's authorized agent transfers to the buyer the title to animals described in the bill of sale;
3. C. "bison" or "buffalo" means a bovine animal of the species bison;
4. D. "board" means the New Mexico livestock board;
5. E. "bond" means cash or an insurance agreement from a New Mexico licensed surety or insurance corporation pledging surety for financial loss caused to another, including certificate of deposit, letter of credit or other surety as may be approved by the grain inspection, packers and stockyards administration of the United States department of agriculture or the board;
6. F. "brand" means a symbol or device in a form approved by and recorded with the board as may be sufficient to readily distinguish livestock should they become intermixed with other livestock;
7. G. "brand inspector" means an inspector who is not certified as a peace officer;
8. H. "carcasses" means dead or dressed bodies of livestock or parts thereof;
9. I. "cattle" means animals of the genus bos, including dairy cattle, and does not include any other kind of livestock;
10. J. "dairy cattle" means animals of the genus bos raised not for consumption but for dairy products and distinguished from meat breed cattle;
11. K. "director" means the executive director of the board;
12. L. "disease" means a communicable, infectious or contagious disease;
13. M. "district" means a livestock inspection district;
14. N. "equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey or hinny;
15. O. "estray" means livestock found running at large upon public or private lands, either fenced or unfenced, whose owner is unknown, or that is branded with a brand that is not on record in the office of the board or is a freshly branded or marked offspring not with its branded or marked mother, unless other proof of ownership is produced;
16. P. "inspector" means a livestock or brand inspector;
17. Q. "livestock inspector" means a certified inspector who is granted full law enforcement powers for enforcement of The Livestock Code and other criminal laws relating to livestock;
18. R. "mark" means an ear tag or ownership mark that is not a brand;
19. S. "meat" means the edible flesh of poultry, birds or animals sold for human consumption and includes livestock, poultry and livestock and poultry products;
20. T. "mule" means a hybrid resulting from the cross of a horse and an ass; and
21. U. "person" means an individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation or similar legal entity.

History: 1978 Comp., § 77-2-1.1, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 248, § 2; 1995, ch. 111, § 1; 1999, ch. 282, § 2; 2001, ch. 8, § 2; 2001, ch. 341, § 2; 2015, ch. 22, § 1; 2023, ch. 45, § 3.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For definition of "livestock" for property tax purposes, see 7-35-2 NMSA 1978.

The 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, substituted "equines" for "horses, asses, and mules" in the definition of "animals" or "livestock", and defined "equine" as used in the Livestock Code; in Subsection A, after "includes", deleted "horses, asses, mules" and added "equines"; and added a new Subsection N and redesignated former Subsections N through T as Subsections O through U, respectively.

The 2015 amendment, effective June 19, 2015, clarified certain definitions as used in the Livestock Code; in Subsection A, after "New Mexico", deleted "provided that for the purposes of Chapter 77, Article 9 NMSA 1978, "animals" or "livestock" have the meaning defined in that article", and after "feline animals", deleted "For the purpose of the rules governing meat inspection, wild animals, poultry and birds used for human consumption shall also be included within the meaning of ‘animals’ or ‘livestock’"; in Subsection B, after "owner or", deleted "his" and added "the owner’s"; in Subsection E, after "approved by the", added "grain inspection, packers and stockyards administration of the", and after "agriculture", deleted "packers and stockyards administration".

The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, substituted "in the bill of sale" for "therein" in Subsection B; deleted "animals or" preceding "livestock" in the last line of Subsection F; and added "and other criminal laws relating to livestock" in Subsection P.

The 1999 amendment, effective July 1, 1999, added Subsections C, G, K, M, O, P, S and deleted former Subsections F, I, and O, which defined "bureau", "commissioned livestock inspector", and "noncommissioned brand inspector", respectively; redesignated former Subsections C to E, G, H, K to N, and P as Subsections D to F, H, I, L, N, Q, R, and T, respectively; deleted "unless the context clearly indicates otherwise" at the end of the introductory paragraph; in Subsection A, substituted the language beginning "horses, asses, mules" for "all horses and cattle" at the end of the first sentence, and deleted "and regulations" following "rules" in the last sentence; deleted "but not limited to" preceding "certificate of deposit" in Subsection E; in Subsection F, substituted "symbol or device" for "mark, notch or device", and deleted "No animal shall be branded at any location more than once such that no subsequent brand shall be placed upon an existing brand, thus altering the prior placed brand" at the end; substituted "of livestock or parts thereof" for "or parts thereof; not less than one quarter of a carcass" in Subsection H; substituted "including dairy cattle, and does not include any other kind of livestock" for "only, and does not include any other kind of domestic animals" in Subsection I; substituted the present language for "'mark' refers to a sheep ear tag or ownership mark" in Subsection Q; and inserted "or similar legal entity" in Subsection T.

The 1995 amendment, effective April 5, 1995, inserted "and includes all horses and cattle" in the first sentence in Subsection A, added the second sentence in Subsection E, deleted "raised for consumption only" following "genus bos" in Subsection H, added Subsection I, redesignated former Subsections I through M as Subsections J through N, deleted "or diseases" following "disease" in two places in Subsection K, added Subsection O, redesignated former Subsection N as Subsection P, and made a minor stylistic change in Subsection N.

Elk are not livestock. — Definitions of livestock in Livestock Code and Property Tax Code include different animals in their enumerated lists and each provides different blanket definition for animals not listed. Jicarilla Apache Nation v. Rodarte, 2004-NMSC-035, 136 N.M. 630, 103 P.3d 554.

Undomesticated and unowned animals are not livestock. — Wild, undomesticated horses cannot be estray because they do not fit within the definition of "livestock" under the Livestock Code. Wild Horse Observers Ass’n, Inc. v. N.M. Livestock Bd., 2016-NMCA-001, cert. denied, 2015-NMCERT-010.

Wild horses are not livestock. — The wild horses on the White Sands Missile Range do not fit within the definition of "livestock" and, therefore, the Livestock Board does not have the authority to take possession of and sell them as estrays. 1994 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 94-06.

Livestock inspector's law enforcement authority. — The law enforcement authority of a livestock inspector is limited to the power and authority expressly granted or necessarily implied in statute; certified livestock inspectors employed by the livestock board have the same powers as any other peace officer for enforcement of the Livestock Code and other criminal laws relating to livestock. Livestock inspectors, therefore, may not act as law enforcement officers or assist other law enforcement agencies to enforce criminal laws outside the inspector's specific statutory authority. Authority of Livestock Inspectors (11/13/18), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2018-08.

Livestock inspectors are not statutorily required to carry a firearm while on duty. — Section 77-2-7 NMSA 1978, provides that all livestock inspectors appointed by the board shall have the same powers as any other peace officer in the enforcement of that code, and 30-7-2(A)(3) NMSA 1978, permits certified law enforcement officers, including livestock inspectors to carry a firearm, but there is no statute that requires livestock inspectors to carry a firearm while on duty or otherwise. The livestock board, as the law enforcement agency for livestock inspectors, however, may set appropriate policies for the carrying of firearms, including policies dictating when livestock inspectors should or should not carry firearms while performing their responsibilities for enforcing the Livestock Code and criminal laws relating to livestock. Authority of Livestock Inspectors (11/13/18), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2018-08.