Nebraska Senators did not vote a final time on the bill that would have changed the Nebraska brand law.
Dawson County Senator Teresa Ibach carried the bill that morphed from week to week throughout session. Initially the bill would have exempted feedlots from brand inspection requirements. In its final form, LB 646 would have a) reduced the one-time per year inspection fee for Registered Feedlots (RFLs) from $1 to 50 cents, b) exempted dairies from brand inspection requirements and c) increased the inspection fee cap from $1 to $1.50.
Senators voted in favor of the final amendment, but the Speaker did not schedule the bill back for a final vote or “final reading.”
Because the Nebraska legislature functions in a two-year cycle, the bill is not dead. It can be scheduled for further action during the 2026 legislative session.
Ibach said that the bill went further this session than “a lot of people” expected it to.
She said an interim study will be done, including the Nebraksa Brand Committee (a five member governor-appointed board that oversees the brand program) and other stakeholders.
The interim study is to “make sure that we have looked at all aspects of the issue,” said Ibach. “I think we will have really good participation on where folks would like to see the brand committee go and how we can make the brand law better for stakeholders and all segments,” she said.
Ibach told TSLN that she would like to amend her own bill again, to eliminate the current requirement for brand inspections to take place when cattle move into RFLs from a ranch or from a growyard or corn stalks but don’t change ownership. She didn’t want to push for passage of the bill without that aspect included.
Ibach had said earlier that she would likely support amendments to her bill that would support electronic identification tags being used as a form of proof of ownership in her state.
Tanya Storer, a Cherry County rancher and former member of the Nebraska Brand Committee said the interim study is exactly what her proposed amendment would have done.
“Ironically, if my amendment had passed, we would have ended up pretty much in this same place,” she said.
Storer said she remains steadfast on a couple of points. Cattle entering a RFL should be inspected at least once – upon entering the RFL if not before. Also the RFLs should pay their fair share of the brand inspection program budget, she said.
RFLs were created by the Nebraska legislature years ago in an effort to provide feedlots the flexibility to ship to slaughter without an inspection. Since slaughter-ready cattle can be fragile and sometimes need to be shipped during nighttime hours, inspection can be difficult or impossible. So the RFLs agree to inspect “in” to the feedlot rather than inspecting “out.” The Nebraska Brand Committee reserves the right to audit the RFL paperwork to help minimize ownership mix-ups in the feedlot and at shipping time.
Levi Fisher, a rancher and the president of a North Platte bank had grave concerns over the idea of exempting RFLs from brand inspection requirements. He said with finished cattle valued at over $3,000 per head, a $1 per head brand inspection is not a significant cost to feeders. He said the brand inspection fee is usually not even listed on the profit and loss sheet or included in the feedlot’s budgeting.
He said a per-head fee with the same cost for all participants is the most fair way to continue to carry out the brand inspection program.