(Albuquerque, New Mexico) – The New Mexico Livestock Board (NMLB) held its first meeting with newly appointed members Thursday, Aug. 8, in Albuquerque.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed the following new members to the board in late July: Tony Casados, Jr., John N. Conniff, Tobin Allen Dolan, Kathy Charise Longinaker, Rita Marie Padilla-Gutierrez, Morgan Switzer-McGinley, Edward Paul Torres and Tara M. Vander Dussen. The eight new members join Molly Manzanares on the board.

Tara Vander Dussen nominated Molly Manzanares as chair, Tobin Dolan as vice chair and John Conniff as secretary. Members elected all three to those respective positions.

New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture Jeff Witte attended the meeting as NMLB Interim Executive Director.

The NMLB’s mission is to protect the integrity of New Mexico’s livestock industry. The NMLB team of about 60 full-time inspectors and 60 full- and part-time deputies continuously patrol and perform inspections around the state to help keep livestock free from disease and safe from theft. NMLB is also home to the office of the state veterinarian, whose team collaborates with various government and private sector partners to ensure that New Mexico remains free of diseases.

As part of the oldest law enforcement agency in New Mexico, the men and women of the NMLB serve and protect an industry that has operated in the western territory of what is now the United States for over 400 years. Though New Mexico did not become a state until 1912, this agency was formed in 1887 as the Cattle Sanitary Board. The Sheep Sanitary Board formed two years later. The two organizations merged in 1967, becoming the New Mexico Livestock Board, which continues today as an agency of the State of New Mexico.

For more information at the NMLB, visit https://www.nmlbonline.com/.