(2) Shall conduct surveillance to monitor program disease control and eradication programs;

(3) Shall conduct surveillance to detect and monitor nonprogram diseases which are, or have the potential of, causing a serious health threat to livestock. The department shall determine and employ the most efficient and practical means to conduct surveillance for livestock diseases at such places as in livestock herds, at slaughter establishments, at livestock concentration points, and at other places where livestock are assembled. When the diseases are nonprogram diseases, surveillance shall be done when in concurrence with the owner of the premises where the surveillance is to be conducted, except that if the State Veterinarian determines, in consultation and agreement with the respective livestock health committee described in subdivision (4) of this section, that the diseases may pose a serious threat to the livestock industry, the State Veterinarian may order surveillance to be conducted at any place where livestock are assembled. If an agreement between the State Veterinarian and the respective livestock health committee cannot be reached, the final decision shall be made by the director;

(4) Shall encourage involvement from livestock producers by forming livestock health committees to provide ways for producers to assist the department in developing policy regarding livestock disease issues. Membership of such committees shall be selected by the respective livestock groups. Additional appointments may be made by the director. The purpose of the committees is to advise and recommend, to the department, when a disease or diseases should be monitored by surveillance and what diseases should be considered for proposed legislation for a disease control eradication program;

(5) Shall provide voluntary livestock certification programs as provided in sections 54-797 to 54-7,103;

(6) Shall assist public health agencies, diagnostic laboratories, and researchers in conducting epidemiological studies of diseases known to be, or suspected of being, transmitted from livestock to humans;

(7) Shall cooperate and contract with persons or local, state, and national organizations, public or private, and enter into agreements with other state or federal agencies to allow such agencies' personnel to work in Nebraska and to allow the department's personnel to work in other states or with federal agencies under a cooperative work program; and

(8) Shall encourage the use of private accredited veterinarians whenever feasible in carrying out the provisions of sections 54-701 to 54-753.05 and 54-797 to 54-7,103.

(2) Animal means all vertebrate members of the animal kingdom except humans or uncaptured wild animals;

(3) Bureau of Animal Industry means the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture of the State of Nebraska and includes the State Veterinarian, deputy state veterinarian, veterinary field officers, livestock inspectors, investigators, and other employees of the bureau;

(4) Dangerous disease means a disease transmissible to and among livestock which has the potential for rapid spread, serious economic impact or serious threat to livestock health, and is of major importance in the trade of livestock and livestock products;

(5) Department means the Department of Agriculture of the State of Nebraska;

(6) Director means the Director of Agriculture of the State of Nebraska or his or her designee;

(7) Domesticated cervine animal means any elk, deer, or other member of the family cervidae legally obtained from a facility which has a license, permit, or registration authorizing domesticated cervine animals which has been issued by the state where the facility is located and such animal is raised in a confined area;

(8) Exposed means being part of a herd which contains or has contained an animal infected with a disease agent which affects livestock or having had a reasonable opportunity to come in contact with an infective disease agent which affects livestock;

(9) Herd means any group of livestock maintained on common ground for any purpose or two or more groups of livestock under common ownership or supervision geographically separated but which have an interchange of livestock without regard to health status;

(10) Livestock means cattle, swine, sheep, horses, mules, goats, domesticated cervine animals, ratite birds, and poultry;

(11) Poultry means domesticated birds that serve as a source of eggs or meat and includes, but is not limited to, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese;

(12) Program disease means a livestock disease for which specific legislation exists for disease control or eradication;

(13) Quarantine means restriction of

(a) movement imposed by the department on an animal, group of animals, or herd of animals because of infection with, or exposure to, a disease agent which affects livestock and

(b) use of equipment, facilities, land, buildings, and enclosures which are used or have been used by animals infected with, or suspected of being infected with, a disease agent which affects livestock;

(15) Sale means a sale, lease, loan, trade, or gift;

(16) Surveillance means the collection and testing of livestock blood, tissue, hair, body fluids, discharges, excrements, or other samples done in a herd or randomly selected livestock to determine the presence or incidence of disease in the state or area of the state; and

(17) Veterinarian means an individual who is a graduate of an accredited college of veterinary medicine.

(2) The department and any officer, agent, employee, or appointee of the department shall have the right to enter upon the premises of any person who has, or is suspected of having, any animal thereon, including any premises where the carcass or carcasses of dead livestock may be found or where a facility for the disposal or storage of dead livestock is located, for the purpose of making any and all inspections, examinations, tests, and treatments of such animal, to inspect livestock carcass disposal practices, and to declare, carry out, and enforce any and all quarantines.

(3) The department, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and Human Services Regulation and Licensure, may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations reflecting best management practices for the burial of carcasses of dead livestock.

(4) The Department of Agriculture shall further adopt and promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to promptly and efficiently enforce and effectuate the general purpose and provisions of such sections.

(2) Before removal, the department shall notify the livestock producer in writing of the department's intention and the reasons for the intended removal from the registry. The notice shall inform the applicant of his or her right to request an administrative hearing before the director regarding his or her removal from the registry. A request for hearing shall be in writing and shall be filed with the department within thirty days after the service of the notice is made. If a request for hearing is filed within the thirty-day period, at least twenty days before the hearing the director shall notify the livestock producer of the time, date, and place of the hearing. Such proceeding may be appealed as a contested case under the Administrative Procedure Act.

(3) A livestock producer whose name is removed from a livestock certification registry for the first time shall not be eligible to reapply for twelve months from the date of removal. A livestock producer whose name is removed from a registry a subsequent time shall not be eligible to reapply for thirty-six months from the date of removal.

(2) Information collected for the purpose of a voluntary livestock certification program that may be disclosed by the State Veterinarian when, in his or her judgment, failure to disclose the name of a livestock producer or producers could result in the spread of a dangerous, contagious, infectious, or otherwise transmissible disease to and among livestock.