Livestock Brands Program 

A livestock brand is a permanent, state-registered mark — applied with a hot iron or by freeze-branding — that identifies who owns an animal. Kansas has recorded brands since 1939, and today the Brands Program maintains a registry of more than 17,000 active brands. Registration with KDA is required before you brand any animal in Kansas.

It is illegal in Kansas to brand any animal before registering that brand with the KDA Division of Animal Health Brands Office. A brand does not need to be registered to be used as a logo — but it must be registered before its used on an animal.

Brands Program at a Glance

 * Updated quarterly

A brand only works if it can be read and reported — a design that's too complex to identify, or that doesn't take well to branding, doesn't protect your livestock. Every registered brand must be distinguishable with reasonable certainty from every other brand recorded at that same body location.

A brand does not need to be registered to be used as a logo. It does need to be registered before you put it on an animal.

Branding has marked ownership of Kansas livestock since the open-range era, moving from open-fire irons to electric irons to today's freeze-branding method — both hot and freeze methods are recognized under Kansas law.

Beyond registration, the Brands Program:

• Maintains the statewide brand registry
• Coordinates the livestock market brand inspection program, performed under contract brand inspectors
• Employs special investigators who assist local law enforcement with lost, stray, and stolen livestock cases across agencies

Brand inspection is not mandatory in Kansas. However, five contract inspectors are available statewide for a fee, and the same inspectors serve five Kansas livestock markets that contract with KDA for inspection services.

Livestock Brand Inspectors

Kansas Brand Book

A bound, printed Kansas Brand Book is no longer produced.

• Historic Brand Books
• Database of Current Livestock Brands

Brand Program Contact Info