(1) Official identification is required for qualifying animals involved in the following:

(a) importation;

(b) entry into interstate marketing channels;

(c) change of ownership; or

(d) exhibition.

(2) Official identification must be made to the flock of birth or the flock of origin.

(3) The following groups of animals are required to be officially identified:

(a) sexually intact sheep and goats, regardless of age;

(b) all sheep over 18 months of age;

(c) all scrapie-suspect and test-positive animals;

(d) all scrapie-exposed or scrapie high-risk animals; and

(e) all animals in scrapie-source, scrapie-infected, scrapie-exposed, or scrapie-non-compliant flocks.

(4) Animals that are exempt from the individual official identification requirement are:

(a) sheep and goats under 18 months of age in recognized slaughter channels;

(b) wethers for exhibition;

(c) low-risk commercial goats as defined in the Scrapie Eradication Uniform Methods and Rules;

(d) sheep and goats moved for grazing purposes with no change of ownership; and

(e) animals from a registered premises and moved as a group lot directly to an approved slaughter facility or to an approved market and accompanied by an owner's statement as defined in the Scrapie Eradication Uniform Methods and Rules.