Section 100.10  Requirements for Establishing and Maintaining Validated Brucellosis-Free Herds of Swine

a)         General Requirements

1)         Validated brucellosis-free herd certificates are issued cooperatively by the Department and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

2)         Validation shall be extended upon evidence of compliance with the requirements for maintenance of a validated brucellosis-free swine herd as provided in this rule.

3)         All blood samples for validation or revalidation shall be collected by an accredited veterinarian and shall be submitted for diagnosis to an approved laboratory. Information concerning approved laboratories can be obtained from the Department.  The veterinarian should indicate on each test chart that the test is being conducted to qualify a swine herd for validation or revalidation.

4)         Initial tests to qualify for validation shall be made at owner's expense except as specified under subsection (b)(2) of this Section.

5)         A "validated herd" shall consist of at least 5 animals and shall be considered as including all animals in the herd 6 months of age or over. All swine being held for feeding purposes, separate and apart from breeding swine, are exempted from herd test requirements.

6)         Any purebred animal OR any inbred or hybrid animal registered with a livestock registry association shall be identified by registration number, registry association approved individual tattoo, ear notch, or an ear tag. Any grade animal shall be identified by an ear tag or tattoo. If any animal is retagged between tests, the identification of the previous test shall be shown on the test chart opposite new retag number.

b)         To Qualify for Validation

1)         Herds which have shown no previous infection may be validated upon completion of one negative herd test of all breeding swine 6 months of age and over. Validation applies to all offspring, including Specific Pathogen-Free (SPF) pigs from such herds.

2)         When reactors are disclosed in a herd in the process of becoming validated, the entire herd is placed under quarantine and the reactors shall be immediately isolated from the remainder of the herd. The reactor animals shall be tagged in the left ear with a reactor identification tag, disposed of within 15 days of report by the laboratory, a report of disposal made to the Department, and the entire herd subjected to brucellosis retests at intervals of not less than 30 nor more than 90 days. Quarantine will be released upon completion of one negative complete herd test; completion of two consecutive negative complete herd tests will qualify a herd for validation. (Complete herd retest for release of quarantine shall be at State expense, provided funds are available.)

c)         Maintenance Requirements

1)         Validated brucellosis-free herd status is maintained by subjecting all swine over 6 months of age in the herd to an official brucellosis serologic test at least once each year (this shall be accomplished by testing 25 percent of swine over 6 months of age every 80 to 105 days and finding all swine so tested negative, or by testing 10 percent of the swine over 6 months of age each month and finding all swine so tested negative). No swine may be tested twice in one year to comply with the 25 percent requirement nor twice in ten months to comply with the 10 percent requirement.  If the members of the validated herd are maintained on more than one premises, 25 or 10 percent of the swine on each premises shall be retested as required. If the 25 or 10 percent retests are not conducted when due, the revalidation requirements shall then be the same as for initial validation.

2)         Reactors:  

If reactors are disclosed on the 25 percent quarterly or 10 percent monthly est, the herd will be quarantined and the validated herd status suspended until a herd test is conducted. Such test may be at State expense, provided funds are available. The herd test should be conducted within 30 days of disclosure of the reactor. A negative test will qualify the herd for release of quarantine and revalidation. If additional reactors are disclosed, the herd will be considered again in the process of validation as under subsection (b) (2) of this Section.

3)         Additions to Validated Brucellosis-Free Swine Herds:

A)        Native Animals:

i)          Animals originating directly from a validated herd in good standing, without test (owner shall furnish proof of same to the Department), or

ii)         Animals from non-validated herds provided they have passed a negative test within 60 days and are held in isolation from the validated herd until passing a second negative test at least 60 days but not more than 90 days after the first test in the case of boars, or open gilts, or after farrowing in the case of bred sows and gilts.

B)        Animals From Out-of-State: All animals from out-of-state accompanied by an approved interstate health certificate, showing compliance with Illinois entry requirements as defined in Section 4 of the Act, may be added to a validated herd, if they qualify as follows:

i)          Animals originating directly from a validated herd in good standing, without test (owner shall furnish an official health certificate to the Department), or

ii)         Animals from non-validated herds provided they have passed a negative test within 30 days prior to addition, and are held in isolation from the validated herd until passing a second negative test at least 60 days but not more than 90 days after the first test, in the case of boars and open gilts, or after farrowing in the case of bred sows and gilts.

C)        Additions are not recognized as a part of the validated herd until the required negative retests have been reported to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

d)         Segregation of Feeding Animals

All swine brought on to the farm for feeding purposes shall be segregated from the breeding herd.

(Source:  Amended at 20 Ill. Reg. 1557, effective January 12, 1996)