79. Examination at request of owner; segregation; grading of herds. The owner of a herd of cattle kept for dairy or breeding purposes within the state may apply to the commissioner for examination of his herd by the tuberculin, or other approved tests, subject to the following regulations:
1. The application therefor shall be upon a blank form provided by the commissioner and shall include an agreement on the part of the owner of the herd to improve faulty sanitary conditions, to disinfect his premises if diseased cattle be found, and to follow directions of the commissioner designed to prevent the reinfection of the herd and to suppress the disease and prevent the spread thereof.
2. The commissioner shall cause such cattle to be examined accordingly, subject to the provisions of this article, and if any animal responds to such test, he may cause it to be slaughtered or held in strict quarantine.
3. If after examination an animal be found to be suffering from tuberculosis such animal shall be slaughtered under the provisions of this article, or the commissioner may enter into a written agreement with the owner for keeping such animal in segregation or the commissioner may, if the condition of such animal warrants it, consign such animal to any one of the experiment stations or farms owned or controlled by the state, or by any county of the state, or to the farms of such public institutions in the state as the commissioner shall approve, or to hospitals, sanitariums or other institutions existing in whole or in part for the purpose of suppressing tuberculosis, there to be kept and used for breeding, dairy or experimental purposes under regulations to be prescribed by the commissioner.
4. Subject to the rules of the commissioner, an animal found to be diseased after such examination may continue to be used for breeding purposes, but the milk from such animal shall not be used for any purpose until pasteurized at such temperature and for such period as the commissioner may prescribe.
5. The young of any such diseased animal shall immediately be separated from its mother and shall not be permitted to receive or be fed the milk from such affected animal until such milk has been pasteurized as provided in subdivision four of this section.
6. The commissioner may make rules for classifying herds tested under this section and for the purpose of giving recognition to herds which are in a healthy condition, he is hereby authorized to issue such certification as he may deem proper in relation to such herds. If such rules and such certification provide for periodical retests of accredited herds, or other herds not yet accredited, the cost of such retests, after January first, nineteen hundred and thirty, shall be borne by the state and there shall be appropriated annually to the department a sum sufficient to defray the expense of the veterinary service for such required retests.
Last modified: February 3, 2019