Your cattle brand is a courthouse record in Hardin County — and it expires in 2031

If you run cattle or horses on land around Saratoga or Batson, your brand is a legal record, not just a mark on a hide. The Hardin County Clerk keeps the county's book of livestock marks and brands, and registering one means filing in person at the courthouse in Kountze. The fee is $15 per single brand or mark, and they don't take it by mail; you come in.

Brands run on the state's ten-year cycle, and every current Hardin County brand expires together on August 31, 2031. When that date comes, brands have to be re-recorded or they open back up for someone else to claim, so it's worth a calendar note for anyone whose brand is part of how they prove ownership at the sale barn.

Buying a cattle place or inheriting one? Have the Clerk check whether a brand is already on the books before you assume the old one still belongs to the property. A brand can lapse with a ranch's ownership, and you don't want to find that out after you've marked a herd.