A Texas livestock brand is only yours if you re-record it every ten years

A cattle brand is not recorded once and forgotten. Texas law puts brands and earmarks on a ten-year cycle. They are recorded with the County Clerk in the county where the livestock are kept.

An old family brand passed down by memory may not be enough. If it was not renewed in the last cycle, it may have lost legal force or been claimed by someone else. The brand needs to be filed in Nueces County to protect stock kept here.

The County Clerk can tell whether a brand is current and on file. Brand records are about ownership marks, separate from animal-health or movement records.