(a) The flock owner or his or her agent shall identify all animals 1 year of age and older within the flock. All animals less than one year of age shall be identified with an approved tamper resistant premises identification eartag with individual animal identification when a change of ownership occurs, with the exception of animals under 1 year in slaughter channels.
  (1) Infected or QQ animals identified with Red tags
  (2) All others identified with White or Silver Tags.
(b) Upon request by TAHC or APHIS, the owner of the flock shall allow an accredited veterinarian or an APHIS or TAHC representative to collect tissues from animals for scrapie diagnostic purposes and submit them to an APHIS approved laboratory.
(c) Upon request by a TAHC or APHIS representative, the owner of the flock shall present animals in the flock, and the required records, for inspection and testing.
(d) The owner of the flock shall meet TAHC or APHIS requirements to monitor for scrapie, prevent its recurrence, and prevent its spread to other flocks. These include, but are not limited to:
  (1) Utilization of a live-animal test;
  (2) Restrictions on animals removed from the flock;
  (3) Segregated lambing;
  (4) Cleaning and disinfection of lambing facilities; and/or,
  (5) Education of the flock owner, and personnel, to recognize clinical signs of scrapie and control its transmission.
(e) The flock owner shall immediately report animals exhibiting the following clinical signs to a TAHC or APHIS representative, or an accredited veterinarian, and shall not remove such animals from the flock:
  (1) weight loss despite retention of an appetite
  (2) pruritis (itching)
  (3) motor abnormalities such as incoordination
  (4) wool pulling
  (5) biting at the legs or flanks
  (6) lip smacking
  (7) high stepping gait of forelimbs
  (8) bunny hop movement of rear legs
  (9) swaying of the back end
  (10) increased sensitivity to noise and sudden movement
  (11) tremor
  (12) head pressing
  (13) or, animals that have tested positive for scrapie on a live animal screening test or any other test for scrapie.
(f) The following are for flock plans only:
  (1) An epidemiological investigation must be conducted to identify high-risk an exposed animals that currently reside in the flock or that previously resided in the flock, and all high-risk animals, scrapie-positive animals and suspect animals must be removed from the flock. The animals must be removed to an approved research facility, or by euthanasia and disposal of the carcasses by burial, incineration, or by other approved methods.
  (2) The premises under the flock plan must be cleaned and disinfected (C & D'd) in accordance with 9 CFR 54.7.
  (3) Premises, or a portion of the premises, may be exempted from the cleaning and disinfection if the Designated Scrapie Epidemiologist determines, based on epidemiological investigation that the C & D of such buildings, holding facilities, conveyances, or other material on the premises will not significantly reduce the risk of transmission of scrapie. No facility where a scrapie-positive animal lambed or aborted may be exempted.
  (4) The flock owner shall request breed associations and registries, livestock markets, and packers to disclose records to TAHC or APHIS representatives to be used to identify trace-ins and trace-outs, source flocks and exposed and high-risk animals.
  (5) The flock owner shall agree to conduct post-exposure management and monitoring.
(g) The following are the requirements for post-exposure management and monitoring plans only. The plan requires that a TAHC or APHIS representative inspect the flock and flock records at least every 12 months. The flock owner shall maintain records for 5 years following removal of the animals from the flock. Recorded shall include:
  (1) Any identifying marks or tags present on the animal, including but not limited to the premises identification number, individual animal identification number, and any secondary form of identification the owner may employ;
  (2) Sex, year of birth, breed, and (when possible) the sire, dam, and offspring of the animal;
  (3) Date of acquisition and the previous flock owner and address, if the animal was not born in the flock; and,
  (4) Disposition of the animal, including the date and cause of death, if known, or date of removal from the flock and name and address of the person to whom the animal was transferred.
(h) Flock plans and post-exposure management and monitoring plans may be modified by the Designated Scrapie Epidemiologist to accommodate the situation of a particular flock if the modified plan requires:
  (1) A TAHC or APHIS representative inspect the flock and records at least once every 12 months;
  (2) The animals are tested at a level that will result in a 99% confidence of detecting a one-percent prevalence in the flock (for flock plans only);
  (3) Identification by approved method of all animals leaving the premises of the flock, for purposes other than slaughter, and of all animals over 18 months of age (as evidenced by the eruption of the second incisor) in slaughter channels; and,
  (4) Record keeping shall include:
    (A) For acquired animals, the date of acquisition, name and address of the person from whom the animal was acquired, and all identification.
    (B) For animals leaving the premises of the flock, the disposition of the animal, including those animals that are required to be identified, any identifying marks, and all identification, the date and cause of death, if known, or date of removal from the flock, and name and address of the person to whom the animal was transferred.
  (5) Continued for at least 5 years.
(i) Post-exposure management and monitoring plans are for exposed flocks that were not source flocks and in which a scrapie infected animal did not give birth. A Designated Scrapie Epidemiologist shall determine the testing and monitoring requirements for these flocks based on the exposure risk of the individual flock.
(j) Waiver of requirements for scrapie control pilot projects is allowable if approved by the Administrator of APHIS and the state has a Pilot Project MOU in place.
(k) Minimum Requirements for Pilot Project Flock Plans:
  (1) Restriction of high-risk animals to the premises for movement to slaughter only;
  (2) Necropsy and testing of all animals over 14 months of age that die, particularly high-risk animals;
  (3) Third eye-lid testing of all exposed animals over 14 months of age, or when they reach 14 months of age;
  (4) Retest of all test eligible animals 18 months after the last known exposure to scrapie;
  (5) Removal of all test-positive animals;
  (6) Restrictions on the movements of other animals out of the flock except to slaughter unless testing or other methods have been used to insure that they are low risk for spreading scrapie; and,
  (7) Genotype testing for use as a selection criteria.
  (8) Removal of all QQ animals.
  (9) May keep QR and RR animals.
  (10) Purchase of RR ram(s).

Source Note: The provisions of this §60.6 adopted to be effective September 1, 2002, 27 TexReg 8183