When wildfires in New Mexico threaten horses, cattle, and other large animals, the fire plans each county has in place direct them to do one thing: call the New Mexico Livestock Board. As the state’s oldest law enforcement agency, its mission is to protect the integrity of New Mexico's livestock industry by helping to keep animals free from disease and safe from theft and other threats, including fire.

Before the Livestock Board gets the call that a fire is headed toward livestock, its staff have already begun asking several questions in preparation: “Where are animals located within possible burn areas? Where would the fire have to go to force an evacuation? If the animals need to be evacuated, what’s the best route? And what pickups and trailers will we use to evacuate them? And where to?”

The Livestock Board stays prepared thanks to lots of planning, performing drill exercises, and having the right equipment – and, of course, having a statewide network of qualified officers who are well connected within their communities. The agency deploys its mobile command posts, complete with high-speed communications equipment. Livestock Board staff carry mobile panels that can quickly and easily be fitted together to form a corral. And having three veterinarians on staff makes for quick and appropriate treatment of animals suffering from smoke inhalation and other problems that arise when wildfires burn.

But the Livestock Board isn’t alone when horses, cattle, and other large animals need to relocated away from fire. Some counties are lucky to have active horse groups that can help move horses from affected areas by offering the use of their horse trailers and time. Several ranchers will often step up to offer the use of their pastures and corrals, even feed and water, to fellow ranchers whose livestock are in harm’s way. The relationships that Livestock Board staff build with local livestock owners are crucial when wildfires threaten.

The Livestock Board also partners with the New Mexico National Guard when wildfires burn. Together, the agencies will conduct surveillance from the air to locate people and animals in harm’s way and plan for their evacuation. They also work together in the delivery of feed and water to livestock.

Given that the Livestock Board is a law-enforcement agency, its staff also assist in evacuating people from the wildfires path, as well as manning roadblocks to keep people from entering dangerous areas.

When all is said and done and the fire is finally put out, the Livestock Board and its partners make sure that any livestock that had to be evacuated are claimed by their owners. Everyone’s goal, at that point, is to return the animals to the corrals and pastures that they’re used to, just as swiftly and as safely as they were evacuated from them in the first place.

The New Mexico Livestock Board is no longer licensing meat dealers.  See the attach documents for the official noticce and the related legislative action.

The NMLB has concluded its investigation of the recent horse shooting video and forwarded the findings to the Chaves County District Attorney's Office.  The Livestock Board initiated its investigation swiftly after becoming aware of the video and then obtaining the necessary warrants.  Livestock Board investigators conducted their inquiry in a thorough and professional manner.  Now, it's up to the District Attorney's office to reach a determination in the case. Please direct any follow-up questions fo the Chaves County DA's office. 

The New Mexico Livestock Board takes allegations of animal cruelty very seriously. After becoming aware of the recent video of a horse shooting, NMLB immediately began to investigate and sought a warrant to search the premises where the shooting is alleged to have occurred. NMLB and the Chavez County Sherriff's Office executed the warrant as soon as it was granted. The NMLB is treating this case as it does any other and will not be releasing further details until the investigation is complete.

A Grant County rancher found one of his cows dead in an apparent malicious attack. Please click on the poster below to view the information in full size.

This is an update to the notice we sent out last week: Effective immediately, the Livestock Board is using our website to post estray notices. We will continue to post them in the Stockman as well.  . Whereas we used to post notices for 5-days when we took up an animal before estraying it, we will now do those postings on our website as well, but will not post them in newspapers. Photos or other pertinent documents may also be posted on the website to assist the owner in identifying the animals and making a claim.  In addition, we have added listings for animals reported lost or missing.

To get to the page containing these postings, go to our main website, http://www.nmlbonline.com, and click the "Lost / Found / Estray" menu choice on the left.

A Bloomfield woman pleaded guilty to selling another woman's horse, and then telling the woman that the horse was dead. Click the link for the full story from "The Daily Times" of Farmington.

Found running at large at 24899 Hwy 84 Tierra Amarilla NM: A bay stallion with a star,partial strip, and snip. Found on Friday, February 8, 2013. The horse is a no brand. Please contact Inspector Gary Mora for any further information at (505) 263-2782.

Ray E. Baca, Las Vegas, was named Interim Director of the New Mexico Livestock Board (NMLB) in late December. “I understand the industry’s needs and concerns, like animal health, theft, and animal cruelty, both as a rancher and as part of the New Mexico Livestock Board,” he said. “I am willing to give the industry 110 percent.”

“On behalf of the New Mexico Livestock Board, I would like to thank former director Myles Culbertson for his leadership and direction,” he continued. “We appreciate his hard work and wish him well.”

Click the link below for the full story

Midland, Texas – A Midland man on the run since May 2012 turned himself in to authorities Monday after he was located, arrested and released on personal recognizance bond in Big Horn, Montana, on a warrant stemming from cattle theft charges in Midland and Martin counties. Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Ranger James Bond led the investigation.

Click the link below for the full story.

December 27, 2012

Summary of New Information:

• This will serve as the final situation report for the 2012 Vesicular Stomatitis outbreak. 
• No new VSV-infected premises have been identified since the last situation report (12/18/12).
• The last affected New Mexico premises was released from quarantine on December 24.  Premises are eligible for quarantine release 21 days after lesions have healed in all affected animals. 
• A total of 34 premises in New Mexico and 2 premises in Colorado have been released from quarantine since the start of the outbreak.  All affected premises in both Colorado and New Mexico have been released from quarantine.    
• A total of 2 equine premises in 2 Colorado counties and 34 equine premises in 10 New Mexico counties were VSV-positive in 2012.  All 2012 VSV cases were New Jersey serotype.  
 

Current:  Counties with positive premises – None; There are no positive premises 

November 20, 2012

Please click the link below to review the proposed draft of NMAC rule 21.35.6.

June 10, 2012
 

Our facebook page has quickly become a popular way for the public to receive the kinds of notices that appear here. When we post them there, everyone who has "liked" the page receives them in their facebook feed. But not everyone chooses to have a Facebook page. And some who do are not active enough for that to be a timely way to receive notices.

To address these situations, we have implemented an e-mail notification feature on our website as well. There is now a button on the right which says "Sign up to receive e-mail notices from the NMLB." When you click that button, you are prompted for your e-mail address. If you do that, then any time we post an update of importance to the livestock industry here and on our facebook page, we can also e-mail it out to that list. Every e-mail we send has an "unsubscribe" feature so that you can remove yourself from or add yourself to this list at any time. Click the button on the right if you wish to receive critical updates from us via e-mail.

April 9, 2012

Equine will not  be accepted to NM livestock markets on a telephone permit.  All in-district equine must have proof of ownership.  All other in-state equine must be accompanied by an NMLB Form 1 inspection, an NMLB 1-H certificate, or an applicable tribal inspection.  All interstate equine must be accompanied by a health certificate (CVI) issued within the previous thirty days and proof of a negative Coggins test within the previous 12 months.

February 1, 2012

Please see the attached document for updated Equine Exhibition requirements and related Equine transit information for New Mexico.

October 4, 2011

SUMMARY FROM THE USDA:  We are amending the bovine tuberculosis regulations regarding State and zone classifications by reclassifying a zone in New Mexico consisting of Curry and Roosevelt Counties. We have determined that the zone meets the criteria for accredited-free status. Since the remainder of the State is already classified as accredited free, the entire State of New Mexico is now classified as accredited-free. This action relieves certain restrictions on the interstate movement of cattle and bison from Curry and Roosevelt Counties in New Mexico.

June 23, 2011

This report is in PDF format.  Please Click Here to view it. The report contains the latest information on which states have experienced incidents of infection, including highlights showing which incidents are most recent.

April 14, 2009

Did you know that private veterinarians can now create valid New Mexico entry permits on line without calling our office? The first step is to sign up to be a user of this service. Then going forward, you can simply log in to our system and create entry permits which go directly to the laptops of our inspectors in the field. As long as you fax us the appropriate paperwork for all test-elligible animals and remain in commpliance with that requirement as you go, there should be no problems. As with any new system, we are very interested in your comments or feature requests as you begin to use the system. E-mail them to webmaster@nmlbonline.com