Mont. Code Ann. » TITLE 81. LIVESTOCK · CHAPTER 4. CONTAINMENT OF LIVESTOCK · Part 3. Herd Districts
Montana Code Annotated

Mont. Code Ann. § 81-4-306 (2026)

Penalty For Permitting Animals To Run At Large In Herd Districts

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  1. MCA Contents
  2. TITLE 81
  3. CHAPTER 4
  4. Part 3
  5. 81-4-306 Penalty for permitting animals to run at large in herd districts

TITLE 81. LIVESTOCK

CHAPTER 4. CONTAINMENT OF LIVESTOCK

Part 3. Herd Districts

Penalty For Permitting Animals To Run At Large In Herd Districts

81-4-306. Penalty for permitting animals to run at large in herd districts. (1) Any person who is the owner or entitled to the possession of any horses, mules, cattle, sheep, llamas, alpacas, bison, asses, hogs, or goats, who willfully permits the animals to run at large within any herd district, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50 or more than $250 for each offense. Each day that each five head or less of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, llamas, alpacas, bison, asses, hogs, or goats are willfully permitted to run at large constitutes a separate offense.

(2) Any person who is the owner or entitled to the possession of any bull, stallion, or jackass over 1 year of age who willfully permits the animal to run at large within any herd district is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50 or more than $250 for each offense. Each day that a bull is permitted to run at large constitutes a separate offense.

History: En. Ch. 74, L. 1917; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 167, L. 1919; re-en. Sec. 3385, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 45, L. 1925; re-en. Sec. 3385, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 165, L. 1945; R.C.M. 1947, 46-1502; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 488, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 166, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 417, L. 1993.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1988–2003 · leading case: Williams v. Selstad, 766 P.2d 247 (Mont. 1988).
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Williams v. Selstad, 766 P.2d 247 (Mont. 1988). · cites it 6× “Section 81-4-306, MCA, provides: (1) Any person who is the owner or entitled to the possession of any horses, mules, cattle, sheep, asses, hogs, or goats, who shall willfully permit same to run at large within any herd district, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon…”
Weatherwax v. Yellowstone Cnty., 2003 MT 215, 75 P.3d 788. · cites it 2× “The County maintains that even though a herd district requires livestock owners to fence their animals rather than allowing them to freely wander the land, § 81-4-306, MCA, that does not prevent livestock owners from driving their animals down a public road, § 7-14-2129, MCA.”
Larson-Murphy v. Steiner, 2000 MT 334, 15 P.3d 1205. · cites it 16× “Section 81-4-306, MCA. These statutes, when read together, clearly suggest that the legal fencing requirement was intended for more than to protect fenced land from roaming livestock.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.