Category Archives: USDA

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has published the final rule amending the regulations to establish minimum national official identification and documentation requirements for the traceability of livestock moving interstate.

On Thursday, December 20th, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a final rule establishing general regulations for improving the traceability of U.S. livestock moving interstate.

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has completed phase 1 of the NAHMS Swine 2012 study. Names of participating producers have been turned over to USDA’s Veterinary Services and producers can expect to be contacted beginning September 10th.

USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) has begun the Swine 2012 Study this month (July 2012). This is the fifth national swine study done to date during which NAHMS will take an in-depth look at swine operations in the United States. The study will address such issues as swine production practices, trends in swine health and management, the prevalence and risk of unknown pathogens, economic treatment of those pathogens, and antibiotic usage patterns.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) celebrated the agency’s 40th anniversary on May 16. While APHIS’ program activities and responsibilities have grown and evolved since the Agency’s founding in 1972, the mission remains the same: serving the public by protecting the health and value of American agriculture and natural resources.

The number of U.S. operations with hogs in 2011 totaled 69,100, unchanged from 2010. Operations with 2,000 or more head accounted for 87 percent of the inventory, according to a USDA annual report on Farms, Land in Farms and Livestock Operations. A hog and pig operation is any place having one or more hog or pig on hand on Dec. 31.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today 80 awards to American veterinarians to help repay a portion of their veterinary school loans in return for serving areas lacking sufficient veterinary resources. The awards, totaling more than $7.7 million, were made by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) and will benefit 34 states, Puerto Rico, and other federal lands.

The U.S. House and Senate passed a conference report that allows for the restoration of USDA-sponsored inspections of horse processing facilities. Since 2005, a de-facto ban on horse processing has been in place because the ag appropriations bill specified that no federal money could be spent to inspect horse-processing facilities. The House voted 298-121 in favor and the Senate voted 70-30 in favor of the bill. A recent GAO report revealed the ban on horse processing resulted in a number of unintended consequences harmful not only for landowners and industry, but also for the well-being of horses in general. This action does not affect any state imposed bans on horse slaughter however.

All state public health laboratories have the capacity to test respiratory specimens for influenza viruses with sensitive and specific assays that can detect human and non-human influenza A viruses. They also have the capacity to subtype currently circulating human influenza A H1, H3, and avian H5 (Asian lineage) viruses (http://www.cdc.gov/osels/ph_surveillance/nndss/casedef/novel_influenzaA.htm). If the virus is an un-subtypable influenza A or inconclusive using those tests, it is forwarded to CDC for testing/confirmation.

If you are an accredited veterinarian and you have not yet notified the National Veterinary Accreditation Program (NVAP) that you wish to retain your accreditation, you must submit an application to USDA APHIS VS by October 1, 2011 to maintain your accreditation.