Title 47, Animals, Livestock, and Poultry

As used in this chapter: (1) "Engages in an equine activity" means riding, training, providing, or assisting in providing medical treatment of, driving, or being a passenger upon an equine, mounted or unmounted, or a person assisting a participant or show management. It does not …

(A) Except as provided in subsection (B), an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional is not liable for an injury to or the death of a participant resulting from an inherent risk of equine activity, and no participant or participant's representative may make a claim agai…

(A) An equine professional and an equine activity sponsor shall post and maintain signs which contain the warning notice specified in subsection (B). These signs must be placed in a clearly visible location on or near stables, corrals, or arenas where the equine professional or t…

The State Livestock-Poultry Health Commission shall administer this article in accordance with Chapter 4 of this title.

All animals except those for immediate slaughter must be tested for tuberculosis and paratuberculosis when considered advisable by the commission before they are released from the stockyards.

The commission, by regulation, may establish slaughter assembly points.

A person who removes from a public livestock market or equine sales facility equine, cattle, swine, or other livestock for immediate slaughter shall use them for immediate slaughter only in accordance with this article and the regulations issued in accordance with it. The owner o…

Animals or poultry known to be infected with or exposed to one or more of the diseases provided in Section 47-4-50 or that reacts to a test indicating the presence of the diseases must be held separate and apart from healthy animals and must not be sold, traded, moved off premise…

The commission may provide the service of competent veterinarians to attend auction sales at the various public livestock markets on the day of the sale. The costs, exclusive of the pay of a veterinarian provided by the commission, of all tests, serums, vaccine, treatments, and l…

The commission may promulgate and enforce regulations necessary to carry out this article.

A municipality, county, or state law enforcement officer or highway patrolman may stop and ascertain whether a conveyance transporting livestock along the highways and streets within the State have proper receipts or certificates in accordance with this article.

A person who knowingly violates this article or a regulation promulgated by the commission or wilfully fails to comply with this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished in accordance with Section 47-4-130.

(A) A person operating a public livestock market or an equine sales facility, as defined in Section 47-4-20, shall obtain from the commission a permit authorizing the operation. Issued permits are effective until the next March first, unless sooner revoked or canceled. (B) The pe…

(A) Application for a permit must be made on forms furnished by the commission and must show the: (1) full name and address of all persons having a financial interest in the market. This requirement is not necessary for publicly-owned joint stock corporations; (2) name, address, …

The intent and purpose of this article is to improve, further develop and expand livestock production and marketing in South Carolina by encouraging livestock producers to produce a better grade and quality of livestock in order that such agricultural commodity may sell in compet…

For the purpose of this article, the following words and terms shall have the meaning indicated, unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning: (a) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation or association; (b) "Public livestock market" means a place…

All livestock offered for sale in South Carolina may be graded for quality and pooled for sale with the consent of the seller.

The grading service herein provided shall be conducted by the Department of Agriculture at a cost to be established by the Department and the proceeds shall be used for the purpose of paying salaries, travel and related expenses of grading personnel. These proceeds shall be depos…

The Department of Agriculture is authorized to promulgate and adopt the standards or grades which shall be used for the grading of livestock and it shall be authorized to adopt, as official standards for such grading, the standards and grades which have been promulgated by the Un…

The Department is hereby authorized to adopt an identification method or system by the use of marks, tags, paint or other methods to be affixed to livestock whereby such livestock may be identified with respect to their grade and physical condition in order that the prospective b…

The Department is hereby authorized and empowered to promulgate and adopt such rules and regulations as are reasonably necessary to carry out the provisions and requirements of this article. The Department shall also be authorized to designate the effective date on which the grad…

Participation in this program of grading and inspection of livestock shall be completely voluntary on the part of all persons so affected by the provisions of this article. Any person, in his discretion, may elect not to have his livestock graded and inspected as provided herein …

Any person, or his agent, servant or employee, after voluntarily entering this program, who operates a public livestock market and violates or refuses to comply with any of the provisions herein or who violates any rules or regulations duly approved and adopted by the Department …

The Commissioner of Agriculture, hereinafter referred to as "Commissioner," shall regulate, as provided herein, the sale of livestock at auction and shall license for a fee of one dollar per year all public livestock sales establishments.

Payment for livestock purchased at auction shall be made on the same date of purchase of the livestock, and the proceeds therefrom shall be deposited by the public livestock sales establishment in a custodial account not later than the next banking day following the date of sale.…

It shall be the duty and responsibility of each public livestock sales establishment to report to the Commissioner within twenty-four hours after having knowledge that a check or draft issued in payment for livestock has been dishonored, and it shall be the duty and responsibilit…

The Commissioner is authorized to issue and promulgate rules and regulations pertaining to the purchase and payment of livestock sold at auction in this State and to the licensing of public livestock sales establishments. The Commissioner in addition is authorized to provide pena…

The provisions of this article shall only apply to public sales establishments. For the purpose of this article, "public sales establishments" shall mean any livestock sales establishment which conducts more than two livestock auction sales in any one calendar year.

The operator of a public livestock market or an equine sale facility shall file with his application for a permit a two thousand dollar surety bond acceptable to the commission to secure the performance of all obligations incident to the operation of the livestock market under th…

The commission shall promulgate regulations to provide requirements necessary for facilities for holding livestock, such as proper and adequate pens for holding and segregating, proper protection from the weather, adequate water supply, access to medical treatment, sanitation, di…

(A) The public livestock market or equine sales facility shall keep records required by this chapter and the regulations promulgated pursuant to it including, but not limited to, from whom the animals were received, to whom sold, necessary tests and results, and certificates of v…

Animals sold in a public livestock market or equine sales facility must bear identification including, but not limited to, ear tags, ear notches accompanied by purebred papers, back tags, mane and tail tags, tattoos, brands, or other permanent means authorized by state or federal…

When considered advisable by the commission, all animals except those for immediate slaughter must be tested for brucellosis before the animals are removed from the stockyards or other premises where the animals are being held for sale.

This chapter must be administered, unless otherwise indicated, by the State Livestock-Poultry Health Commission in accordance with this chapter and Chapter 4 of this title.

It is unlawful for a person to possess, sell, or distribute biological products containing a viable, living agent capable of producing disease in livestock and poultry, except with the prior written consent of the commission.

Except where the context otherwise requires, for the purposes of this article the following terms shall be construed, respectively, to mean: (a) Person. A natural person, firm or corporation. (b) Poultry. Live fowl, including chickens, turkeys, waterfowl and game birds which are …

Full authority for the control, suppression, and eradication of pullorum and typhoid in poultry in this State is vested in the commission. The commission shall administer the following: (1) Poultry hatcheries and hatchery supply flocks within the State must qualify as United Stat…

The State Livestock-Poultry Health Commission shall promulgate reasonable regulations consistent with this article. The commission must be advised by a poultry advisory committee consisting of five members as follows: one from the commercial hatching industry, one from the commer…

A person violating this article or regulations promulgated by its authority is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished in accordance with Section 47-4-130. Each violation constitutes a separate offense.

Whenever the commission certifies to the Governor that an outbreak of disease in animals or poultry has occurred within the State and that state or federal law has established an eradication program for the disease concerned, there must be appropriated out of the general fund of …

As used in this article: (1) "Equine infectious anemia" means a widely spread, virus-caused disease of the horse, commonly known as swamp fever, which is infectious in nature and spreads by improper use of hypodermic needles, other instruments, and insects. The disease may be acu…

The state veterinarian and the Livestock-Poultry Health Service of Clemson University are vested with the authority to develop and institute programs to provide for the control of equine infectious anemia in this State and to adopt and provide for enforcement regulations necessar…

The official test for equine infectious anemia is: (1) the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) blood test or any other test approved by the United States Department of Agriculture accomplished by a laboratory approved by the United States Department of Agriculture on blood samples co…

All positive tests for equine infectious anemia must be reported to the state veterinarian including tests conducted in approved laboratories within the State and tests from veterinarians submitting blood samples for testing to laboratories outside this State.

It is unlawful to enter the State with a horse unless the horse has been tested for equine infectious anemia and is accompanied by an official Equine Infectious Anemia test chart showing that the horse reacted negatively to an official Equine Infectious Anemia test within twelve …

(A) When a reactor horse is identified on a premises, the state veterinarian shall quarantine all horses on that premises. All exposed quarantined horses tested must be properly identified by a mane or tail tag or other type of identification authorized by the state veterinarian.…