(1) Alternative livestock owned or transferred to any alternative livestock farm within the state of Montana must be individually identified by the method prescribed by the department.

(2) Every alternative livestock animal must be marked with a whole herd mark (herd tattoo) registered to an alternative livestock farm animal owner and placed in the location on the animal identified by the department's recorder of marks and brands.

(a) The herd tattoo placed in an animal born on the alternative livestock farm or imported to the alternative livestock farm from out-of-state shall be that of the owner of the animal and is recognized as the original tattoo.

(b) Retattoo of an illegible tattoo shall be done by a designated agent of the department and shall be the original tattoo (herd of origin) of the animal. When an animal is retattooed, the designated agent of the department shall submit a certificate of veterinary inspection to the department documenting the retattoo of the animal and the complete animal identification, age, sex and species information.

(c) The recorded whole herd mark (herd tattoo) has all of the rights of ownership granted under 81-3-105, MCA.

(3) Under the authority of 87-4-414, MCA, and 9 CFR 55 and 81, each alternative livestock will be marked with two forms of official identification approved by the department. One approved method of identification will be the Montana official eartag.

(a) Official ear tags will be issued to and applied by alternative livestock veterinarians or other department-designated agents. Alternative livestock veterinarians may choose to delegate authority to apply tags to an alternative livestock licensee within the context of a valid veterinarian-client-patient-relationship. In the circumstance that a licensee applies tags to alternative livestock the following conditions must be met:

(i) The alternative livestock licensee may only apply tags to their own animals in herds that have achieved CWD certified status as defined in ARM 32.4.1303.

(ii) The alternative livestock licensee may apply tags to calves born in the same year as the tagging event. All calf tagging must be completed and reported to the Department of Livestock prior to January 1. Tagging information must be reported to the Department of Livestock on an official department form within five days of the tagging event. If the alternative livestock licensee requests an extension to the January 1 tagging deadline a veterinarian must then apply the tags.

(iii) The alternative livestock licensee may apply replacement tags or tags to adult animals. The animal(s) must have one official tag in place prior to application of the replacement tag.

(b) USDA official eartags and Montana official eartags are nontransferable and can only be removed from an alternative livestock animal by a department-designated agent.

(c) Montana official eartags that are lost from alternative livestock must be surrendered to a department-designated agent or the department as soon as possible after the retrieval of the tag.

(d) All animal identification tags retrieved from alternative livestock by the department-designated agent shall be submitted to an approved diagnostic laboratory with samples for CWD testing or to the department Helena office for animals that are not CWD test eligible.

(4) The unauthorized removal of a Montana official eartag or USDA official eartag, or the alteration or reuse of tags shall constitute a violation of this rule.

(5) The alteration of a whole herd mark except as outlined in (2)(b) of this rule shall constitute a violation of this rule and 81-3-221, MCA.