What You Need to Know about NPIP and Indemnity
Going forward per USDA, farms enrolled in NPIP with a capacity of 75,000 or more birds at one time must have a biosecurity plan and audit following the NPIP Program Standards 14-point Biosecurity Principles Audit Guidelines. There is no charge to enroll in the NPIP program. This rule applies to layer and pullet farms. If you have less than a 75,000 bird capacity, you do not have to enroll.
Under this new regulation, if you have 75,000 or more layers or pullets and you do not participate in U.S Avian Influenza Monitored program available to you through NPIP, you are only eligible for 25% of the costs in a case of Avian Influenza. Please see the following Section 56.3 Payment of indemnity and section 146.22 Participation for the wording from the NPIP Program Standards:
56.3 Payment of indemnity.
(a) Activities eligible for indemnity. The Administrator may pay indemnity for the activities listed in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(3) of this section, as provided in paragraph (b) of this section:
(1) Destruction and disposal of poultry that were infected with or exposed to H5/H7 LPAI;
(2) Destruction of any eggs destroyed during testing of poultry for H5/H7 LPAI during an outbreak of H5/H7 LPAI; and
(3) Cleaning and disinfection of premises, conveyances, and materials that came into contact with poultry that were infected with or exposed to H5/H7 LPAI; or, in the case of materials, if the cost of cleaning and disinfection would exceed the value of the materials or cleaning and disinfection would be impracticable for any reason, the destruction and disposal of the materials.
(b) Percentage of costs eligible for indemnity. Except for poultry that are described by the categories in paragraphs (b)(1) through (b)(3) of this section, the Administrator is authorized to pay 100 percent of the costs, as determined in accordance with §56.4, of the activities described in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(3) of this section, regardless of whether the infected or exposed poultry participate in the Plan. For infected or exposed poultry that are described by the categories in paragraphs (b)(1) through (b)(3) of this section, the Administrator is authorized to pay 25 percent of the costs of the activities described in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(3) of this section:
(1) The poultry are from a breeding flock that participates in any Plan program in part 145 of this chapter but that does not participate in the U.S. Avian Influenza Clean or the U.S. H5/H7 Avian Influenza Clean program of the Plan available to the flock in part 145 of this chapter; or
(2) The poultry are from a commercial flock or slaughter plant, but the flock or slaughter plant does not participate in the U.S. Avian Influenza Monitored program available to the commercial flock or slaughter plant in part 146 of this chapter; or
(3) The poultry are located in a State that does not participate in the diagnostic surveillance program for H5/H7 LPAI, as described in §146.14 of this chapter, or that does not have an initial State response and containment plan for H5/H7 LPAI that is approved by APHIS under §56.10, unless such poultry participate in the Plan with another State that does participate in the diagnostic surveillance program for H5/H7 LPAI, as described in §146.14 of this chapter, and has an initial State response and containment plan for H5/H7 LPAI that is approved by APHIS under §56.10.
146.22 Participation.
(a) Participating commercial table-egg layer flocks shall comply with the applicable general provisions of subpart A of this part and the special provisions of subpart B of this part.
(b) Commercial table-egg laying premises with fewer than 75,000 birds are exempt from the special provisions of subpart B of this part.
PDA is the official state agency for NPIP in Pennsylvania. If you would like to participate, contact Casey Strawser, Dutchland Farms Poultry Compliance Specialist at (717)847-5946, for more information or the PDA to receive information about the program and an application. You must provide proof of testing annually and have a biosecurity audit every 2 years. Below you will find the guidelines on when the testing needs to be done based on whether they are pullets or layers:
S. H5/H7 Avian Influenza Monitored
146.23 Terminology and classification; flocks and products
Participating flocks which have met the respective requirements specified in this section may be designated by the following terms and the corresponding designs illustrated in §146.9 of this part:
(1) Table-egg layer pullet flocks. This program is intended to be the basis from which the table-egg layer industry may conduct a program to monitor for the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza. It is intended to determine the presence of the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza in table-egg layer pullets through routine surveillance of each participating commercial table-egg layer pullet flock. A flock will qualify for this classification when the Official State Agency determines that it has met one of the following requirements:
(i) It is a commercial table-egg layer pullet flock in which a minimum of 11 birds have been tested negative to the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza as provided in §146.13(b) within 21 days prior to movement; or
(ii) It is a commercial table-egg layer pullet flock that has an ongoing active and diagnostic surveillance program for the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza in which the number of birds tested is equivalent to the number required in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section and that is approved by the Official State Agency and the Service.
(2) Table-egg layer flocks. This program is intended to be the basis from which the table-egg layer industry may conduct a program to monitor for the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza. It is intended to determine the presence of the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza in table-egg layer through routine surveillance of each participating commercial table-egg layer flock. A flock will qualify for this classification when the Official State Agency determines that it has met the following requirements: 111
(i) It is a commercial table-egg layer flock in which a minimum of 11 birds have been tested negative to the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza as provided in §146.13(b) within 21 days prior to disposal;
and either
(ii) It is a commercial table-egg layer flock in which a minimum of 11 birds have been tested negative for the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza as provided in §146.13(b) within a 12-month period;
or
(iii) It is a commercial table-egg layer flock that has an ongoing active and diagnostic surveillance program for the H5/H7 subtypes of avian influenza in which the number of birds tested is equivalent to the number required in paragraph (a)(2)(i) or paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section and that is approved by the Official State Agency and the Service.
For more information on the NPIP Program, you can visit the NPIP website at http://www.poultryimprovement.org. Just click on the “NPIP Program Standards” along the left hand side. You can then find the 14-point biosecurity principles that need to be included in your biosecurity plan and about the audit. You can find the following relevant sections from the NPIP website below. You can find the entire electronic code of regulations on the NPIP website, 9CFR, Part 56 and Part 146.