If you own a livestock scale in New Mexico, be sure to request an inspection by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture by March 31. If a request is received by March 31, the initial inspection will be provided at no charge to the scale owner, and inspections will be conducted between April 1 and Dec. 31.
A fee will be assessed if the following apply:
• The request is received after March 31;
• You need your scale inspected sooner than the scheduled inspection date;
• You are unable to have your scale ready for inspection at the scheduled date and time;
• You request an additional inspection in 2018; or
• You request a re-inspection in 2018 for a scale that was previously inspected and not in compliance.
The fee will be assessed based on the current “fees for weights and measures services” schedule, which may be found at http://www.nmda.nmsu.edu/scs.
Inspections may be requested by calling 575-646-1616, emailing [email protected] or visiting http://www.nmda.nmsu.edu/scs/licenseregistration/livestock-inspection-registration/.
“A big part of our responsibility here at NMDA is consumer protection and regulatory compliance, and we appreciate livestock scale owners’ cooperation during the inspection process,” said New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture Jeff Witte. “We want to ensure that when an animal is being purchased or sold based on a certain weight, the scale is indeed reflecting the accurate weight.”
The NMDA Standards and Consumer Services Division is responsible for enforcing New Mexico’s weights and measures laws and regulations.
A new livestock scale inspection program takes effect in 2019 and will apply to all scale owners in the state.
“In order to improve our efficiency, we’ll be launching a new routine livestock scale inspection program next year,” said Witte. “We want to give scale owners plenty of notice about the changes.”
To be part of the new program, it will be mandatory for all scale owners to complete and submit the 2019 Routine Livestock Scale Inspection form by Dec. 31, 2018. If scale owners do not want to participate in the new program, they still have the option to call in and request every year by the March 31 deadline. All ranches and farms must maintain current contact information with the NMDA Standards and Consumer Services Division, including names, phone numbers, mailing addresses and, most importantly, email addresses. Email will serve as the main point of communication for future updates, new information and inspector correspondence.
If you have any questions or would like details about the new 2019 Routine Livestock Scale Inspection Program, call the NMDA Standards and Consumer Services Division at 575-646-1616.
For more information about NMDA, visit www.nmda.nmsu.edu.
