On March 25, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a final rule, published in the Federal Register, to amend the scrapie regulations. These changes would take effect April 24.
The changes include removing certain genetically-resistant sheep from the definition of high-risk animals, which would reduce the risk of depopulation or lifelong quarantine; and changing the identification requirements and recordkeeping to bring goat standards up to sheep standards.
According to the American Sheep Industry (ASI) Association, it is working with Dr. Cindy Wolf of Minnesota and Dr. Jim Logan of Wyoming to better identify how these changes will affect sheep producers.
