Who is eligible to apply...
To be eligible, applicants must be engaged in the business of producing and marketing agricultural products at the time of application. In addition, slaughtered lambs must meet the following criteria: (1) be marketed during August 1, 2001 through July 31, 2003; (2) be owned by operation at least 30 days before marketing; (3) carcasses must: (a) meet the requirements of USDA Quality Grade Choice or Prime, (b) meet the requirements of USDA Yield Grade 2, (c) have a muscling confirmation score of Average Choice or better, (d) have a 55-75 pound dressed hot carcass weight, (e) be certified by a USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) agent or an assigned representative, (f) be marketed between June 1 and July 31 of each program year in order to receive the $8 per carcass incentive payment. Feeder lambs must: (1) be marketed during the period August 1, 2001 through July 31, 2003; (2) be owned by the operation continuously from birth until the time of marketing; (3) be thick-muscled and large framed, as determined by AMS. Ewe lambs must: (1) not be older than 18 months of age; (2) not have produced an offspring; (3) not possess the characteristics of parrot mouth, foot rot, or scrapie; (4) be maintained in the herd for at least one complete offspring lambing cycle. Furthermore, eligible lamb producers must have in 1999 gross annual revenue of $2.5 million or less.
Credentials/Documentation
In order to receive payments, the sheep and lamb operation must submit supporting documentation of the cost of the improvements made to the facility during program Year 1 and must use facility improvements for sheep and lamb production activities continuously for at least the next 3 consecutive years. For slaughtered lambs, an Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) agent or an assigned representative of AMS must verify that lamb carcasses meet the payment criteria. The condition of qualifying feeder lambs and ewe lambs must also be certified to by the AMS agent or an assigned AMS representative.
Note:This is a brief description of the credentials or documentation required prior to, or along with, an application for assistance.
About this section:
This section indicates who can apply to the Federal government for assistance and the criteria the potential applicant must satisfy.
For example, individuals may be eligible for research grants, and the criteria to be satisfied may be that they have a professional or scientific degree,
3 years of research experience, and be a citizen of the United States. Universities, medical schools, hospitals, or State and local governments may also be eligible.
Where State governments are eligible, the type of State agency will be indicated (State welfare agency or State agency on aging) and the criteria that they
must satisfy.
Certain federal programs (e.g., the Pell Grant program which provides grants to students) involve intermediate levels of application processing, i.e., applications
are transmitted through colleges or universities that are neither the direct applicant nor the ultimate beneficiary. For these programs,
the criteria that the intermediaries must satisfy are also indicated, along with intermediaries who are not eligible.