Attention, Hawai‘i livestock owners: you've got a deadline to brandish. You need to hop to and register your livestock brands with the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity by December 31, 2025, or you could find your claim to your brand buried in the pasture. If you think this is just bureaucratic horsing around, note that Hawai‘i law is crystal clear: registering your brand is the only way to ensure it's recognized as yours.
For the cattle crowd, this is no news flash. Since as early as 2020, a herd of some 803 registered brands have been grazing the state’s records. But let's not to forget, if you’re looking to keep your brand off the branding iron black market, Dr. Isaac Maeda, state veterinarian, made it plain: "Owners of existing brands may re-register at any time before December 31, 2025," he harped, as mentioned in a recent release by the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity. "If they do not reregister by December 31, they may potentially lose the right to their brand if someone else applies for it."
The stakes, while subtle, are not to be underestimated. Branding is not just a fashion statement; it's an age-old way for cattle cowboys and cowgirls to stake a claim to their stampede. In a landscape dotted with approximately 1,100 cattle operations, stretching from mega-herds of 25,000 head of cattle to the more humble homestead herds, branding separates the bulls from the calves when it comes to ownership.
Worried your creative cattle calligraphies might just be a carbon copy of another rancher's? Fret not. The DAB's Animal Disease Control Branch has an eagle eye for detail and reviews all brand applications to ensure your brand is the bee's knees and nothing like the others on file. But, to be sure you're not left roaming the range without a legal leg to stand on, reach out to the Animal Disease Control Branch at 808-483-7106 (O‘ahu) or shoot an email to [email protected] for the lowdown on getting your brand locked down.
