§79.3. General restrictions. — Inbound Citations

(a) No sheep or goat that is required to be individually identified or group identified by § 79.3 may be sold, disposed of, acquired, exhibited, transported, received for transportation, offered for sale or transportation, loaded, unloaded, or otherwise handled in interstate commerce or commingled with such animals or be loaded or unloaded at a premises or animal concentration point (including premises that exhibit animals) where animals are received that have been in interstate commerce or from which animals are moved in interstate commerce unless each sheep or goat has been identified in accordance with this section.

(1) The sheep or goat must be identified to its flock of origin and to its flock of birth 4 by the owner of the animal or his or her agent, at whichever of the following points in interstate commerce comes first:

(i) Prior to the point of first commingling of the sheep or goats with sheep or goats from any other flock of origin;

(ii) Upon unloading of the sheep or goats at a livestock facility approved in accordance with § 71.20 of this subchapter and that has agreed to act as an agent for the owner to apply official identification and prior to commingling with animals from another flock of origin. Such facilities may identify animals after sale if the facility maintains unidentified animals from different flocks of origin or, when required, different flocks of birth in separate enclosures until officially identified. The animals must be accompanied by an owner/hauler statement that contains the information needed for the livestock facility to officially identify the animals to their flock of origin and, when required, their flock of birth;

(iii) Upon transfer of ownership of the sheep or goats;

(iv) If the owner of the premises or the owner of the animal engages in the interstate commerce of animals, then prior to moving a sheep or goat from the premises on which it resides, unless the animals are moving to a livestock facility approved to handle the species and class of animal to be moved as described in § 71.20 of this subchapter that has agreed to act as an agent for the owner to apply official identification and in accordance with paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section or to a slaughter plant listed in accordance with § 71.21 of this subchapter as part of a group lot. Unless prohibited by State law or regulation, this does not preclude a person from moving animals as part of a group lot directly to another site in the same State to have official eartags that have been assigned to the animal's flock of origin in the National Scrapie Database applied to the animals;

(v) In the case of animals that have only resided on premises and in flocks owned by persons that do not engage in interstate commerce, upon unloading a sheep or goat at a livestock facility or other premises where animals are received that have been in interstate commerce or from which animals are moved in interstate commerce and prior to commingling with animals from another flock of origin. Such animals must be accompanied by an owner/hauler statement that contains the information needed to officially identify the animals to their flock of origin and, when required, their flock of birth; or

(vi) Before moving a sheep or goat across a State line, unless moving to an approved livestock facility that is approved to handle that species and class of animals as described in § 71.20 of this subchapter that has agreed to act as an agent for the owner to apply official identification, and prior to commingling with animals from another flock of origin. Such animals must be accompanied by an owner/hauler statement that contains the information needed for the livestock facility to officially identify the animals to their flock of origin and, when required, their flock of birth.

(2) The sheep or goats must be identified and remain identified using a device or method approved in accordance with paragraph (k) of this section. All animals required to be individually identified by § 79.3 shall be identified with official identification devices or methods. A list of approved identification devices and methods, including restrictions on their use, is available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal-health/scrapie. Written requests for approval of sheep or goat identification device types or methods not listed at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal-health/scrapie should be sent to the National Scrapie Program Coordinator, Strategy and Policy, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 43, Riverdale, MD 20737-1235. If the Administrator determines that an identification device or method will provide an effective means of tracing sheep and goats in interstate commerce, APHIS will provide public notice that the device type or method, along with any restrictions on its use, has been added to the list of approved devices and methods of official sheep and goat identification.

(3) No person shall buy or sell, for his or her own account or as the agent of the buyer or seller, transport, receive for transportation, offer for sale or transportation, load, unload, or otherwise handle any animal that is in or has been in interstate commerce that has not been identified as required by this section including loading or unloading at a premises (including premises that exhibit animals) where animals are received that have been in interstate commerce or from which animals are moved in interstate commerce. No person shall commingle animals with any animal that is in or has been in interstate commerce that has not been identified as required by this section. If the person transporting animals is aware of any animal in the shipment that loses its identification to its flock of origin while in interstate commerce, the person transporting the animal is required to inform the receiving party of this fact, and it is the responsibility of the person who has control or possession of the animal upon unloading/delivery to identify the animal or have the animal identified prior to commingling it with any other animals. This shall be done by applying individual animal identification to the animal as required in paragraph (a)(2) of this section and recording the means of identification and the corresponding animal identification number on the waybill or other shipping document. If the flock of origin cannot be determined, all possible flocks of origin shall be listed on the record, or if this cannot be done, the animal must be identified with a slaughter only eartag and may only move in slaughter channels or, in the case of sheep, may be officially identified and moved for other purposes if the animal is inspected by an accredited veterinarian, found free of evidence of infectious or contagious disease and officially genotyped as AA QR or AA RR.

(a) ICVIs are required as specified by § 79.3 for certain interstate movements of sheep or goats and may be used to meet the requirements for entry into terminal feedlots. An ICVI and all copies must be legible and must show the following information, except when § 79.3 states that the information is not required for the specific type of interstate movement:

(1) The ICVI must show the species, breed or, if breed is unknown, the face color of sheep or the type of goats (milk, fiber, or meat), and class of animal, such as replacement ewe lambs, slaughter lambs or kids, cull ewes, club lambs, bred ewes, etc.; the number of animals covered by the ICVI; the purpose for which the animals are to be moved; the address at which the animals were loaded for interstate movement or for movement to a terminal feedlot when an ICVI is required; the address to which the animals are destined; and the names of the consignor and the consignee and their addresses if different from the address at which the animals were loaded or the address to which the animals are destined; and if different the current owner;

(2) Provided, that, in the case of animals identified with official identifications devices or methods that include the flock identification number(s) assigned to the flock(s) of origin in the National Scrapie Database and an individual animal number unique within the flock, the flock identification number(s) may be recorded instead of the individual identification numbers, and for animals allowed by § 79.3 to move with group lot identification, the group lot number may be recorded instead of the individual identification numbers. An ICVI may not be issued for any animal that is not officially identified if official identification is required. If the animals are not required by the regulations to be officially identified, the ICVI must state the exemption that applies (e.g., sheep and goats moving for grazing without change of ownership). If the animals are required to be officially identified but the identification number is not required to be recorded on the ICVI, the ICVI must state that all animals to be moved under the ICVI are officially identified and state the exemption that applies (e.g. the ewes are identified with flock of origin tags so only the flock ID must be recorded on the ICVI); and

(3) A statement by the issuing accredited, State, or Federal veterinarian to the effect that on the date of issuance the animals were free of evidence of infectious or contagious disease and insofar as can be determined exposure thereto. This statement may be made with respect to scrapie for animals exposed to scrapie that's movement is not restricted that have been designated genetically resistant or less susceptible sheep or low-risk exposed animals. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, all information required by this paragraph must be typed or legibly written on the ICVI. Note that in accordance with paragraphs (a), (b), and (e) of § 79.3, scrapie-positive, suspect, and high-risk animals, some exposed animals, and some animals that originated in an infected or source flock require permits rather than ICVIs.

(4) The ICVI must be signed by the issuing State, Federal, Tribal or accredited veterinarian and must be legible on all copies.

(15) Effectively enforces movement restrictions on all scrapie-positive, suspect, and high-risk animals throughout their lives unless they are moved in accordance with § 79.3.

(3) A statement by the issuing accredited, State, or Federal veterinarian to the effect that on the date of issuance the animals were free of evidence of infectious or contagious disease and insofar as can be determined exposure thereto. This statement may be made with respect to scrapie for animals exposed to scrapie that's movement is not restricted that have been designated genetically resistant or less susceptible sheep or low-risk exposed animals. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, all information required by this paragraph must be typed or legibly written on the ICVI. Note that in accordance with paragraphs (a), (b), and (e) of § 79.3, scrapie-positive, suspect, and high-risk animals, some exposed animals, and some animals that originated in an infected or source flock require permits rather than ICVIs.

(3) A statement by the issuing accredited, State, or Federal veterinarian to the effect that on the date of issuance the animals were free of evidence of infectious or contagious disease and insofar as can be determined exposure thereto. This statement may be made with respect to scrapie for animals exposed to scrapie that's movement is not restricted that have been designated genetically resistant or less susceptible sheep or low-risk exposed animals. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, all information required by this paragraph must be typed or legibly written on the ICVI. Note that in accordance with paragraphs (a), (b), and (e) of § 79.3, scrapie-positive, suspect, and high-risk animals, some exposed animals, and some animals that originated in an infected or source flock require permits rather than ICVIs.

(3) A statement by the issuing accredited, State, or Federal veterinarian to the effect that on the date of issuance the animals were free of evidence of infectious or contagious disease and insofar as can be determined exposure thereto. This statement may be made with respect to scrapie for animals exposed to scrapie that's movement is not restricted that have been designated genetically resistant or less susceptible sheep or low-risk exposed animals. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, all information required by this paragraph must be typed or legibly written on the ICVI. Note that in accordance with paragraphs (a), (b), and (e) of § 79.3, scrapie-positive, suspect, and high-risk animals, some exposed animals, and some animals that originated in an infected or source flock require permits rather than ICVIs.