Sheep Semen from the EU

The American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) has received calls from producers requesting information about the import protocols for sheep semen from the European Union (EU). ASI has been in touch with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS) to obtain the following response.

"Presently, USDA/APHIS is revising information obtained during a recent site visit to the European Union (EU)," said Betzaida Lopez, DVM, MPH, animal imports veterinary medicine officer for USDA/APHIS/VS National Center for Import and Export Technical Trade Services.

"Until our agency has had time to evaluate this information and provide feedback to our EU trading partners, we will not be issuing import permits for sheep and goat semen originating from EU member states."