North Dakota Stockmen's Association

11/06/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/06/2025 13:43

Pass the potatoes … and the brand renewal form

Posted 11/06/2025

For immediate release:
Nov. 19, 2025
For more information, contact:
Randy Schmitt, North Dakota Stockmen's Association president: (701) 537-3440 • [email protected]
Julie Schaff Ellingson, North Dakota Stockmen's Association executive vice president: (701) 223-2522 • [email protected]
Joan Zimmerman, North Dakota Stockmen's Association brand recorder: (701) 223-2522 • [email protected]

Pass the potatoes … and the brand renewal form

Holidays may provide chance to get family signatures to complete brand renewal

As families gather for Thanksgiving this month, they may want to bring their brand renewal forms along to their celebrations. The holiday could be the perfect chance for brandowners to acquire the necessary signatures they need to renew their brand if there are multiple family members on it, said Joan Zimmerman, North Dakota Stockmen's Association (NDSA) brand recorder.
"Families are often scattered across the state or even across the country, and, sometimes, they don't see each other very often," she said. "If your faraway relatives are also co-brandowners, this might be the perfect time not only to get together, but to take care of your brand business."
"For most people, the hardest part of renewing their brand is getting the signatures they need," Zimmerman added. "When you have your people all gathered up anyway, it's really pretty simple. It'll take you two minutes, and you'll be back to eating, visiting or watching football. So, this Thanksgiving, remember, pass the potatoes and the brand renewal form."
North Dakota law requires that livestock brands be renewed every five years, which means brands will expire Jan. 1, 2026, if they are not renewed before then. The NDSA sent brandowners their renewal notices in August. Once renewed, brands will be good until Dec. 31, 2030.
Approximately 7,300 of the more than 20,000 brands have been renewed so far this year.
Zimmerman encourages brandowners to renew their brands by the Dec. 31, 2025, deadline to avoid marketing disruptions. "Plus, it's the only way you can ensure your brand will be listed in the 2026 North Dakota Brand Book."
The new brand book will be published in early 2026. The past two editions, from the 2021 and 2016 brand renewals, are available at discounted prices. The 2016 edition now sells for $20 and the 2021 edition for $40 if picked up from the NDSA office at 4520 Ottawa Street in Bismarck, N.D. To have a book mailed to you, add $20 per book for shipping and handling. The books come with annual supplements. For more information, call (701) 223-2522.
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North Dakota Stockmen's Association published this content on November 06, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on November 06, 2025 at 19:43 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]