Thanks for your letters to the Montana Department of Livestock on our behalf.
Thank you all for the overwhelming response to our earlier plea for help
concerning the loss of our brand. We are off to the Board of Livestock
meeting in Helena on March 12 & 13 to plead our case. We hope you can
attend in person and/or send letters of support so that we can present them
to the Board during our appeal. When we find out the exact time we are to
appear, we'll let you know.
The letters should include some or all of the following and explain:
1. You know Montana Horses and/or the Mantles, personally or by
reputation,
2. We have many horses and actually use our brand as a major part of
our daily horse business,
3. ALL of our many horses have the brand and ALL have lifetime brand
inspections issued by the MT DOL,
4. We are responsible and respectable people and have a legitimate and
large scale horse business with name recognition around the world,
5. You know us to respect the laws and that we would not knowingly
place ourselves in such a position to compromise our livelihood,
6. That the circumstances that caused us to record our brand late were
extenuating and caused by a death in the immediate family at Christmas,
7. Since honest mistakes happen and sometimes there are legitimate
extenuating circumstances that cause oversights, DOL policy should include a
"grace period"; that those brand holders about to lose their brands should
be notified prior to the loss; and that late filings should be subject to
normal and reasonable penalty instead of immediate revocation with no means
of appeal. Though the Mantles situation is in your immediate influence and
attention, you understand this might apply to others in a similarly
unfortunate predicament and you believe it is in the best interest of the
livestock industry to re-visit the policy.
8. Brands have value, are often considered property, some have been
known to sell for thousands of dollars, and the )V( is particularly
attractive and easy to read and is assumed to have great value.
9. Describe how you are familiar with our operation, how you know us,
and how you view our presence in the livestock and horse world. You might
be able to speak to the size of our ranch, our good reputation as
responsible horse owners, and how far our sphere of influence extends
throughout the US and other countries.
10. Explain that you have seen us utilize the brand, seen the brand on ALL
of our horses, that you have seen and understand our horses travel
frequently and are pastured on ranges away from our home, that the brand is
highly recognizable and recognized as ours, and you consider the brand not
only part of our horse's identity, but also a major part of our ranch's
identity.
11. Our contribution to the Department of Livestock, through brand
inspections and per capita livestock taxes alone, is substantial and
documented and should be taken into consideration.
12. The )V( is still recorded to the Mantles in Wyoming in the same
location on horses, is in good standing and has been for many years. The
Mantles still maintain a family ranch in Wyoming. (Wouldn't it be an
unnecessary hassle and cost to have to brand our horses in WY and ship them
into Montana, only to re-inspect them in Montana with a Wyoming brand that
USED to be a Montana brand?)
CONTACT: Please address your letters to: (http://liv.mt.gov)
Montana Department of Livestock
Executive Officer Christian Mackay
Board of Livestock
301 N. Roberts, #3
Helena MT 59620
And please send a copy of your letters to us:
Montana Horses, Inc.
Kail Mantle & Renee Daniels-Mantle
9700 Clarkston Road
Three Forks, MT 59752
(406) 285-3541 | (406) 285-0918 fax
info@montanahorses.com
BRAND RE-RECORD FACTS AND POLICY: Every 10 years, the DOL requires existing
brand owners to re-record their brands and pay $100. ALL registered brands
will be re-recorded into your name if you apply for your re-record by
December 31st. A letter is sent to your last known address explaining this.
You are NOT notified if you missed the rerecord deadline. If you missed the
rerecord deadline, you have until March 31, 2012, to reapply for your brand.
Your application will, however, be processed as a new brand application and
there is no guarantee your brand will be reissued. During a re-record year,
The DOL reserves your previously recorded brand exclusively in your name
until March 31st (a 90 day period), after which it is released to anyone who
wishes to purchase it for $100. You may make a new application for a brand
anytime. However; regardless of prior ownership, it will be considered a
NEW application and is required to adhere to other stipulations. Currently
in Montana, there are certain brands that are no longer allowed (for
instance, single iron brands, ) brands, or others that might be easy to
alter or are in a certain location on the animal). If you apply for a newly
disallowed brand REGARDLESS OF PRIOR OWNERSHIP, you will be denied if you do
not do so prior to the December 31st deadline in a re-record year. There is
NO GRACE PERIOD for late re-records of brands no longer allowed under new
application. There is NO NOTIFICATION to those about to lose their brands.
There is NO FORMAL REGULATION OR POLICY explaining the process that led to
or the standards applied to new brand applications.
OUR INFRACTION: We sent in our paperwork to re-record our brand 2 weeks
after the December 31st deadline and our )V( horse brand is no longer a
brand they will issue under a new application. We have been told there are
many other livestock/brand owners in the same situation.
OUR EXTENUATION CIRCUMSTANCES: We did not receive the letter informing us of
the upcoming deadline. (Many producers have explained they did not either.
It is conceivable that many addresses change over ten years and forwards
expire.) We did not become aware of the re-record until late November after
an unrelated call to the DOL. Immediately after, Renee (I am solely
responsible for this paperwork) was called away from the ranch and ranch
business to deal with the illness, hospitalization, and death of an
immediate family member. I lived with my Dad until early January. Sherrie
Daniels died December 23rd. Upon my return, I began catching up with the
paperwork and was notified by a friend who happened to be perusing potential
brands to purchase and noticed ours had not been renewed. (FYI - ours would
not be purchasable by another party either.)
OUR RECOURSE: The Department of Livestock has not sent our official
rejection, but we have been informed they will. With the exception of the
public information officer, the Department of Livestock, in particular
Christian Mackay and John Grainger, have been very helpful in explaining
this situation and how we must proceed. We can appeal the decision to deny
our brand to the Board of Livestock (http://liv.mt.gov/public/board ). We
have asked to be put on the agenda for the next BOL meeting. We have been
notified that we will be on the agenda, but not yet sure which day. If we
fail at that level, we will be forced to resort to the courts, where we feel
(and have been told by legislators and attorneys) we will prevail.
Again, we cannot thank you enough for your help on this. Though it is
unfortunate we have put ourselves in this position, we sincerely believe the
Department of Livestock will be convinced to reissue our brand to us and
change policy to allow such ill-fated situations from causing destruction to
the very industry it represents.
Most gratefully,
Renee
Montana Horses, Inc.
Kail Mantle & Renee Daniels-Mantle
9700 Clarkston Road
Three Forks, MT 59752
(406) 285-3541 | (406) 285-0918 fax
info@montanahorses.com
www.montanahorses.com
concerning the loss of our brand. We are off to the Board of Livestock
meeting in Helena on March 12 & 13 to plead our case. We hope you can
attend in person and/or send letters of support so that we can present them
to the Board during our appeal. When we find out the exact time we are to
appear, we'll let you know.
The letters should include some or all of the following and explain:
1. You know Montana Horses and/or the Mantles, personally or by
reputation,
2. We have many horses and actually use our brand as a major part of
our daily horse business,
3. ALL of our many horses have the brand and ALL have lifetime brand
inspections issued by the MT DOL,
4. We are responsible and respectable people and have a legitimate and
large scale horse business with name recognition around the world,
5. You know us to respect the laws and that we would not knowingly
place ourselves in such a position to compromise our livelihood,
6. That the circumstances that caused us to record our brand late were
extenuating and caused by a death in the immediate family at Christmas,
7. Since honest mistakes happen and sometimes there are legitimate
extenuating circumstances that cause oversights, DOL policy should include a
"grace period"; that those brand holders about to lose their brands should
be notified prior to the loss; and that late filings should be subject to
normal and reasonable penalty instead of immediate revocation with no means
of appeal. Though the Mantles situation is in your immediate influence and
attention, you understand this might apply to others in a similarly
unfortunate predicament and you believe it is in the best interest of the
livestock industry to re-visit the policy.
8. Brands have value, are often considered property, some have been
known to sell for thousands of dollars, and the )V( is particularly
attractive and easy to read and is assumed to have great value.
9. Describe how you are familiar with our operation, how you know us,
and how you view our presence in the livestock and horse world. You might
be able to speak to the size of our ranch, our good reputation as
responsible horse owners, and how far our sphere of influence extends
throughout the US and other countries.
10. Explain that you have seen us utilize the brand, seen the brand on ALL
of our horses, that you have seen and understand our horses travel
frequently and are pastured on ranges away from our home, that the brand is
highly recognizable and recognized as ours, and you consider the brand not
only part of our horse's identity, but also a major part of our ranch's
identity.
11. Our contribution to the Department of Livestock, through brand
inspections and per capita livestock taxes alone, is substantial and
documented and should be taken into consideration.
12. The )V( is still recorded to the Mantles in Wyoming in the same
location on horses, is in good standing and has been for many years. The
Mantles still maintain a family ranch in Wyoming. (Wouldn't it be an
unnecessary hassle and cost to have to brand our horses in WY and ship them
into Montana, only to re-inspect them in Montana with a Wyoming brand that
USED to be a Montana brand?)
CONTACT: Please address your letters to: (http://liv.mt.gov)
Montana Department of Livestock
Executive Officer Christian Mackay
Board of Livestock
301 N. Roberts, #3
Helena MT 59620
And please send a copy of your letters to us:
Montana Horses, Inc.
Kail Mantle & Renee Daniels-Mantle
9700 Clarkston Road
Three Forks, MT 59752
(406) 285-3541 | (406) 285-0918 fax
info@montanahorses.com
BRAND RE-RECORD FACTS AND POLICY: Every 10 years, the DOL requires existing
brand owners to re-record their brands and pay $100. ALL registered brands
will be re-recorded into your name if you apply for your re-record by
December 31st. A letter is sent to your last known address explaining this.
You are NOT notified if you missed the rerecord deadline. If you missed the
rerecord deadline, you have until March 31, 2012, to reapply for your brand.
Your application will, however, be processed as a new brand application and
there is no guarantee your brand will be reissued. During a re-record year,
The DOL reserves your previously recorded brand exclusively in your name
until March 31st (a 90 day period), after which it is released to anyone who
wishes to purchase it for $100. You may make a new application for a brand
anytime. However; regardless of prior ownership, it will be considered a
NEW application and is required to adhere to other stipulations. Currently
in Montana, there are certain brands that are no longer allowed (for
instance, single iron brands, ) brands, or others that might be easy to
alter or are in a certain location on the animal). If you apply for a newly
disallowed brand REGARDLESS OF PRIOR OWNERSHIP, you will be denied if you do
not do so prior to the December 31st deadline in a re-record year. There is
NO GRACE PERIOD for late re-records of brands no longer allowed under new
application. There is NO NOTIFICATION to those about to lose their brands.
There is NO FORMAL REGULATION OR POLICY explaining the process that led to
or the standards applied to new brand applications.
OUR INFRACTION: We sent in our paperwork to re-record our brand 2 weeks
after the December 31st deadline and our )V( horse brand is no longer a
brand they will issue under a new application. We have been told there are
many other livestock/brand owners in the same situation.
OUR EXTENUATION CIRCUMSTANCES: We did not receive the letter informing us of
the upcoming deadline. (Many producers have explained they did not either.
It is conceivable that many addresses change over ten years and forwards
expire.) We did not become aware of the re-record until late November after
an unrelated call to the DOL. Immediately after, Renee (I am solely
responsible for this paperwork) was called away from the ranch and ranch
business to deal with the illness, hospitalization, and death of an
immediate family member. I lived with my Dad until early January. Sherrie
Daniels died December 23rd. Upon my return, I began catching up with the
paperwork and was notified by a friend who happened to be perusing potential
brands to purchase and noticed ours had not been renewed. (FYI - ours would
not be purchasable by another party either.)
OUR RECOURSE: The Department of Livestock has not sent our official
rejection, but we have been informed they will. With the exception of the
public information officer, the Department of Livestock, in particular
Christian Mackay and John Grainger, have been very helpful in explaining
this situation and how we must proceed. We can appeal the decision to deny
our brand to the Board of Livestock (http://liv.mt.gov/public/board ). We
have asked to be put on the agenda for the next BOL meeting. We have been
notified that we will be on the agenda, but not yet sure which day. If we
fail at that level, we will be forced to resort to the courts, where we feel
(and have been told by legislators and attorneys) we will prevail.
Again, we cannot thank you enough for your help on this. Though it is
unfortunate we have put ourselves in this position, we sincerely believe the
Department of Livestock will be convinced to reissue our brand to us and
change policy to allow such ill-fated situations from causing destruction to
the very industry it represents.
Most gratefully,
Renee
Montana Horses, Inc.
Kail Mantle & Renee Daniels-Mantle
9700 Clarkston Road
Three Forks, MT 59752
(406) 285-3541 | (406) 285-0918 fax
www.montanahorses.com
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