Section 48-3-7 - Liens for board, feed, shelter or pasture; priority.
48-3-7. Liens for board, feed, shelter or pasture; priority.
A. Innkeepers, livery stable keepers, lessors and agistors and those who board others for pay or furnish feed, shelter or pasture for the property and stock of others shall have a lien on the property and stock of such guest or guests and lessees or of those to whom feed or shelter has been furnished until the same is paid, and shall have the right to take and retain possession of such property and stock until the indebtedness is paid.
B. It shall be unlawful for a lessee or owner to remove livestock from the leased premises, feedlot or pasture without the consent of the lessor feedlot operator or agistor unless the amount due for pasturage or feed be paid.
C. The liens provided for in this section shall not take precedence over prior filed or recorded chattel mortgages, duly filed or recorded as provided by law, unless the holder of such mortgage shall expressly so consent in writing; provided that the giving of such written consent shall not affect the rights or priority under a prior mortgage as against a subsequent mortgage but the rights, liens and priorities of all such mortgages shall be and remain the same as if no such written consent had been given.
D. An agistor shall retain his lien, notwithstanding the fact that he has relinquished possession of the livestock, if prior to relinquishment, he has filed for record with the clerk of the county in which the livestock are situate a statement declaring his intention to retain the lien and containing a description of the livestock in [on] which the lien is claimed.
E. For the purposes of this section, "agistor" means a person or entity whose primary business is to board, feed and care for livestock of others for a fee.
F. The notice which an agistor is required to file to protect his lien claim under this section shall contain the following:
(1) name of the agistor;
(2) location by general description and county of the feedlot in which the livestock are boarded;
(3) identification of livestock by quantity, owner and other identifying information to permit an identification as to which livestock the lien applies; and
(4) signature of the agistor and the date on which the notice was served.
G. Within fifteen days after the agistor releases the lien he shall file a release of lien in the manner provided for filing of termination statements under the Uniform Commercial Code [Chapter 55 NMSA 1978].