Iowa Administrative Code
Agency 21 - Agriculture and Land Stewardship Department
Chapter 64 - Infectious and Contagious Diseases
Rule 21-64.52 - Identification of Bovine Animals

(1) Identification tag. Every veterinarian, in conjunction with the testing of any bovine animal for brucellosis or the vaccination of any such animal, shall insert an identification tag of the type approved by the department in the right ear of each animal which is not so identified; provided that in the case of an animal registered with a purebred association, the registry or tattoo number assigned to the animal by such association may be used for identification in lieu of an identification tag.

(2) Official vaccinates. An animal vaccinated with RB-51 brucella abortus vaccine must have an official identification tag in the right ear or an individual animal registration tattoo. Additionally, the animal must be tattooed in the right ear with the U.S. Registered Shield and the letter "V," which shall be preceded by a letter "R" and followed by a number corresponding to the last digit of the year in which the animal was vaccinated.

(3) Reactor identification. Bovine-reactor cattle eight months of age or over shall be permanently branded with a hot iron on the tailhead over the fourth to the seventh coccygeal vertebrae with the letter "B" not less than two inches nor more than three inches high and shall also be tagged in the left ear with a reactor identification tag approved by the department within 15 days of the date on which they were disclosed as reactors. This subrule shall not apply to official calfhood vaccination as defined in Iowa Code section 164.1. Such vaccinates need not be branded if they react to the brucellosis test until 30 months of age.

This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code sections 164.11 and 164.12.