2007 Minnesota Statutes

17A.03 DEFINITIONS.
    Subdivision 1. Scope. As used in this chapter, the terms defined in this section have the
meanings given them.
    Subd. 2. Department. "Department" means the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
    Subd. 3. Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture or the
commissioner's representative.
    Subd. 4.[Repealed, 1996 c 310 s 1]
    Subd. 5. Livestock. "Livestock" means cattle, sheep, swine, horses intended for slaughter,
mules, farmed cervidae, as defined in section 35.153, subdivision 3, llamas, as defined in section
17.455, subdivision 2, ratitae, as defined in section 17.453, subdivision 3, bison (buffalo), and
goats.
    Subd. 6. Livestock market agency. "Livestock market agency" means any person who sells
consigned livestock for the account of others, but does not include an occasional or special
event or disposal sale.
    Subd. 7. Livestock dealer. "Livestock dealer" means any person, including a packing
company, engaged in the business of buying or selling livestock on a regular basis for the person's
own account or for the account of others.
"Livestock dealer" does not include:
(a) persons licensed under section 28A.04 who are primarily engaged in the sale of meats at
retail and persons operating as frozen food processing plants; and
(b) persons engaged in the business of farming, when purchasing livestock for breeding or
herd replacement purposes or feeding programs, and when selling the livestock they have owned
and raised, fed out or fattened for slaughter in their specific farming program.
    Subd. 8. Agent. "Agent" means any individual who is engaged by a livestock dealer to act as
the dealer's representative.
    Subd. 9. Feeder pig market. "Feeder pig market" means a trading place where producers
sell feeder pigs directly to livestock dealers or other farmers.
    Subd. 10. Packing plants and slaughtering houses. "Packing plants" and "slaughtering
houses" means places of business where livestock purchased or acquired is slaughtered.
    Subd. 11. Buying station. "Buying station" means any stockyard or concentration point,
other than a public stockyard, at which livestock is bought and sold or assembled for shipment
to a packing plant or a public stockyard, or graded or weighed for the purpose of establishing a
basis for sale or reshipment.
    Subd. 12. Public stockyard. "Public stockyard" means an assembly point operated as a
public livestock market for livestock producers, feeders, market agencies and buyers; providing
the services and facilities for loading and unloading, yarding and sale of all classes of livestock,
for individuals or organizations granted the privilege of the market by the management of the
public stockyards.
    Subd. 13. State livestock weighmaster. "State livestock weighmaster" means a person
employed by the department and appointed by the commissioner to weigh livestock and issue
official certificates of state weight.
    Subd. 14. Public livestock weigher. "Public livestock weigher" means a person employed
by the company to be responsible and accountable for weighing and recording the weights of
livestock.
    Subd. 15. Commercial livestock scale. "Commercial livestock scale" means a livestock
scale or monorail scale used in the purchase or sale of livestock or livestock carcasses. For
purposes of this subdivision, "livestock scale" means a scale equipped with stock racks and gates
and adapted to weighing single or multiple heads of livestock standing on the scale platform, and
"monorail scale" means a scale, also called an abattoir scale, a track scale, or a rail scale, the load
receiving element of which is part of a monorail conveyor system and which is used primarily for
the weighing of livestock carcasses.
History: 1974 c 347 s 3; 1977 c 299 s 1,2; 1981 c 54 s 2; 1984 c 654 art 3 s 16-18; 1986 c
444; 1991 c 288 s 2-4; 1993 c 375 art 9 s 7; 2000 c 477 s 3; 2000 c 488 art 3 s 9; 1Sp2001 c 2 s
32; 2006 c 212 art 1 s 22