The College of Agricultural Sciences has adopted the following policies and procedures to ensure that acceptable livestock and poultry health standards are maintained for all events held in the Ag Arena complex. Arena facilities may be used for official University classroom activities, University-sponsored events, and consignment sales and sponsored shows involving animals not owned by Penn State.
- No animals will be housed in the arena overnight. All feeding, watering, and bedding of animals shall be limited to the holding barns. Users are responsible for moving animals from the holding barns to the arena in a manner that is safe for both the animals and the personnel involved.
- When events involve only University owned animals, only healthy animals that have been housed in University facilities for at least 30 days and have passed the health control programs for admission to the University herds and flocks shall be eligible.
- When events involve one or more animals not owned by the University, either alone or with one or more University animals, each animal on the premises must be accompanied by a valid health certificate issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry. Each animal also must meet current requirements for shows and sales established by the Bureau of Animal Industry for the particular species involved.
- Within one day following an animal event, all manure and other animal debris must be removed from the arena. Following each event, the holding barns must be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized prior to use of the holding barns for a subsequent event. Cleaning and sanitizing shall be performed according to the recommendations of the University veterinarian. In most cases, at least 7 days between events will be required to perform adequate cleaning and sanitizing.
- The University veterinarian shall be notified of each event involving animals not owned by the University at least 30 days prior to the date of the event. The University veterinarian shall have the authority to inspect all health certificates and animals entering the premises, to enforce the above policies, and to reject other animals.
- To protect the health of both University and non-University animals, the University veterinarian may issue additional health requirements for certain events in an emergency or other unusual situation.
