Posted August 26, 2013

USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) has released a final rule on “Weighing; Feed and Swine Contractors” according to the Federal Register notice, available here. 
The final rule amends regulations issued under the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 “to ensure that payments by live poultry dealers and swine contractors to poultry and swine production contract growers are based on accurate weighing of both inputs and outputs.”  Specifically, GIPSA is amending: a regulation about scale tickets to reduce redundant wording and to clarify weighing procedures, a regulation about reweighing to add swine contractors to the list of firms that must comply, and adding feed to the list of items for which reweighing may be requested.
The final rule also amends two other regulations about weighing livestock and poultry to add weighing processes for feed, to add a specific time limit for weighing poultry, and to add swine contractors to the list of firms that must comply with care and promptness requirements.
The effective date for the final rule is September 20.
For more information on the Packers and Stockyards Act and GIPSA, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website, here.
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