(1) A livestock owner or the livestock owner's agent must submit a livestock reporting form, electronically or in writing, to the department no later than March 1 annually.

(2) The reporting form required in (1) must list the livestock type and count, by county, where livestock are located on February 1. For all poultry and bees, swine 3 months of age or older, and all other livestock 9 months of age or older, the livestock owner/producer shall report the number of animals within each of the following established categories:

(a) horses, mules, and asses (ponies, donkeys, burros);

(b) cattle;

(c) domestic bison;

(d) sheep;

(e) swine;

(f) goats;

(g) poultry (chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and other domestic birds raised as food or to produce feathers);

(h) bee hives or boards;

(i) alternative livestock (privately owned caribou, mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, moose, antelope, mountain sheep, mountain goats indigenous to Montana);

(j) ostriches, emus, and rheas; and

(k) llamas and alpacas.

(3) Livestock owners that bring livestock into the state after February 1 of the current year are required to complete and submit a livestock reporting form to the department. The department will use the information provided by the livestock owner to mail them a reporting form in the following year.

(4) If a livestock owner fails to submit a completed livestock reporting form by the March 1 deadline, the department shall use the owner's reported or estimated livestock counts from the previous year to estimate the livestock type and count for the current year. For livestock owners with livestock located on property owned by someone else that have not self-reported by the March 1 deadline, the department shall estimate the livestock owner's livestock type and count based on the livestock numbers provided by the landowner.

(5) Effective in 2016, per capita livestock fee payments are due to the department by May 31 of the reporting year.

(6) The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) has access to the department's livestock reporting and billing/payment data for compliance purposes. If the DOL determines that a livestock owner has not been reporting their livestock counts to the department as required, the DOL may provide the department with estimated livestock type and counts and the department will use this information to bill the livestock owner for the per capita livestock fees.