Title 36, Livestock

In this chapter unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Board" means the state board of animal health. 2. "Commissioner" means the agriculture commissioner. 3. "Domestic animal" means dog, cat, horse, bovine animal, sheep, goat, bison, farmed elk, llama, alpa…

1. The state board of animal health consists of nine members appointed by the governor for terms of seven years each with their terms of office so arranged that two terms expire on the first day of August in one year and one term expires on the first day of August in each of the …

The state board of animal health shall hold its meetings at the state capitol at such times as it may designate, but there may not be more than four regular meetings in any one year. The president of the board may call a special meeting whenever in the president's judgment it bec…

The board shall elect a president and a secretary from among its members. The commissioner shall provide clerical services to the board.

Each member of the board shall receive as compensation for services the sum of one hundred thirty-five dollars per day for each day employed and actual expenses incurred in attending the meetings of the board. The sum must be paid out of the state treasury upon vouchers duly cert…

The commissioner shall, with the consent of the board, appoint the state veterinarian and deputy state veterinarian. The state veterinarian and deputy state veterinarian must be competent and skilled veterinarians and graduates of a veterinary medicine and surgery course at a rec…

The state veterinarian shall: 1. Ascertain, by personal examination or through reports from other authorized representatives or agents of the commissioner, all information which can be obtained regarding the existence of contagious, infectious, and epizootic diseases of animals. …

The board shall choose a veterinarian on staff at North Dakota state university to act as consulting veterinarian to the board. The term of appointment is open and at the will of the board. At the discretion of the board, the consulting veterinarian, or any United States departme…

The board shall protect the health of the domestic animals and nontraditional livestock of this state, shall determine and employ the most efficient and practical means for the prevention, suppression, control, and eradication of dangerous, contagious, and infectious diseases amo…

The board of animal health may require a license for nontraditional livestock maintained within this state. The annual fee for a license for a bird species required to be licensed is seven dollars. The maximum amount of annual fees for bird species licenses to be paid by a person…

Any person who keeps a mountain lion, wolf, or wolf hybrid in captivity must obtain an identification number from the board. The number must be tattooed in indelible ink inside the ear of the animal for permanent identification purposes.

The board and the commissioner shall conduct performance evaluations of the state veterinarian and any assistant state veterinarians.

A person may not keep a skunk or raccoon in captivity. This section does not apply to a zoo licensed by the animal care program of the animal and plant health inspection service of the United States department of agriculture. The state veterinarian shall confiscate and dispose of…

The commissioner may employ officers, agents, or assistants necessary to carry out this chapter, at a compensation to be fixed within the limits of legislative appropriations. The commissioner may grant to the inspectors of the United States department of agriculture the same aut…

The board may take such steps as it may deem necessary to control, suppress, and eradicate any and all contagious and infectious diseases among any of the domestic animals and nontraditional livestock of this state. For this purpose, the board may quarantine any domestic animal o…

The commissioner may use any moneys appropriated to the commissioner for the control of animal diseases, for the rapid arrest and eradication of foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, contagious pleuropneumonia, or any other highly contagious or infectious animal plagues for which p…

1. The state veterinarian, or the state veterinarian's designee, a police officer, sheriff, or other law enforcement officer may seize any nontraditional livestock located on private property from the animal's owner or custodian if probable cause exists to believe that the animal…

1. Any person who discovers, suspects, or has reason to believe that any domestic animal or nontraditional livestock belonging to that person or belonging to any other person, is affected by any reportable contagious disease as defined by the board, shall report that knowledge, s…

Whenever a domestic animal or nontraditional livestock has been determined to be affected with a contagious or infectious disease and has been ordered killed by the board, the state veterinarian, or an agent or representative of the board, the owner or keeper of the animal must b…

If at least two of the experts declare that the animal involved is free from any contagious or infectious disease, the expense of the consultation must be paid by the commissioner. If at least two of such experts declare that such animal is affected with a contagious or infectiou…

The owner or keeper of any animal killed by order of the state board of animal health, the state veterinarian, or by an agent or representative of the state board of animal health, shall dispose of the carcass of the animal in the manner prescribed by the board or the state veter…

The board, any member of the board, the state veterinarian, or the commissioner may examine or cause to be examined under oath all persons believed to possess knowledge of material facts concerning the existence or dissemination, or the danger of dissemination, of disease among d…

The state veterinarian and authorized agents and representatives of the commissioner, for purposes of inspecting livestock in transit for health or ownership identification, may stop vehicles transporting livestock on public highways of this state. When signaled by the state vete…

In case of any serious outbreak of any contagious, infectious, or epizootic diseases among domestic animals or nontraditional livestock, which cannot be controlled with the funds at the disposal of the commissioner, the commissioner shall notify the governor at once, and the gove…

No person may feed garbage to swine. As used in this section "garbage" means animal and vegetable waste matter resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, and consumption of foods, including animal carcasses or parts of animal carcasses, except that dairy products from a l…

1. Except when otherwise ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction, the board may order any domestic animal or nontraditional livestock brought into this state which is not in compliance with the provisions of this chapter to be returned to the state of origin, or in the alter…

The board may adopt rules for the establishment and maintenance by any person of a monitored livestock feedlot. Any person may, on compliance with the rules, obtain a license for the feedlot upon filing an application with the commissioner and upon the payment of an annual fee of…

No person may operate a registered livestock feedlot without obtaining a registration number from the chief brand inspector. The board may adopt rules for the operation of feedlots registered for the enforcement of brand inspection rules. Applications for registration must be mad…

1. Except in accordance with the terms of a permit issued under subsection 2, a person may not possess a live venomous reptile, as defined by the state veterinarian. 2. The state veterinarian may issue a permit for the possession of a live venomous reptile only if, in the determi…

The board shall develop and maintain animal tracking databases to assist with tracking animal movements for animal health purposes only. The information obtained and maintained in the databases is subject to open records laws as provided for in section 36-01-36.

1. a. At the request of a livestock producer, the board shall provide inspection and verification services for the purpose of certifying that livestock have been or are being raised according to standards and protocols articulated by the producer. b. At the request of a livestock…

1. The state board of animal health may restrict the importation and the sale or other distribution within the state of any domestic animal and any animal that is wild by nature, if the board has reason to believe that the animal may pose a threat to the health and well-being of …

The board shall maintain and make available to any law enforcement agency a list of veterinarians who are licensed in this state and trained to provide assistance in any criminal investigation pertaining to this state's animal laws.

1. The board shall maintain the confidentiality of information created, collected, or maintained by the state veterinarian for purposes of premises identification, animal identification, or animal tracking, including the name and address of the owner or lessee of the property whe…

In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Animal unit" means a cow, a bull, or a steer, or five sheep over six months of age on the first day of May of the year in which the age is being determined. Two horses are equivalent to three animal uni…

A nonprofit corporate or cooperative grazing association may be organized and operated under the general law governing corporate or cooperatives and this chapter, with the following additional power to: 1. Lease from the United States or any of its departments, corporations, or a…

The name of any cooperative grazing association organized and operating under this chapter or authorized to do business hereunder must include the words "grazing association", and no other association may use such words in its name.

Any person may become a member of a corporate or cooperative grazing association if the person: 1. Is an owner or lessee of land within the proposed boundaries or resides on the border of the grazing area within or without the county; 2. Is engaged in the raising of livestock wit…

The association may establish through its bylaws various subdistricts within the grazing district. When subdistricts are so established, one director of the association must be elected from each subdistrict by the majority vote of the members therein who are eligible to vote. If …

Articles of association for grazing associations are subject to the general law governing cooperatives, and must also set forth whether the property and grazing rights and interests of each member of the association are equal or unequal, and if unequal, the general rule or rules …

No member of a cooperative grazing association is permitted to graze more than five hundred animal units during a full twelve-month period in any one year. A member may be permitted, however, to graze a correspondingly larger number for a shorter grazing period during each year.

Directors of a grazing association are subject to the general law governing directors of cooperatives, and may also: 1. Make such regulations for the management and control of the affairs of the association and of the manner of utilization of grazing within its district not incon…

Any cooperative grazing association organized under the provisions of this chapter, upon completion of its organization and incorporation, shall file with the recorder of the county and with the dean of the school of agriculture of the North Dakota state university of agriculture…

No livestock may be permitted to run at large. Any owner or possessor of livestock who willfully permits the livestock to run at large through failure to maintain a lawful fence as provided in section 47-26-01, except in grazing area as provided in section 36-11-07, is guilty of …

As used in this chapter, "livestock" includes bison, cattle, goats, horses, mules, sheep, and swine.

In any action brought under the provisions of this chapter, any person occupying or cultivating lands is considered the owner thereof.

The owner or person in charge of any stallion, jack, boar, ram, bull, or any animal known to be vicious who negligently permits such animal to run at large is liable in a civil action to any person who is damaged, either directly or indirectly, by such violation for all damages r…

1. The owner or possessor of any livestock that inflicts damage or injury to: a. Motor vehicles or their occupants upon a public highway within a grazing area in which proper signs, approved by the director of the department of transportation, indicating limited liability are pos…

Any person owning or having charge of any livestock that goes through, over, or under any lawful fence is liable for all resulting damages. Any livestock that goes through, over, or under a lawful fence is deemed trespassing livestock for the purposes of this chapter.

1. The person suffering damages by reason of the trespass of any livestock may take up the offending livestock. The person suffering damages shall notify the owner, or the person in possession of the livestock at the time of the trespass, of the seizure of the livestock without u…