(a) The commission by rule may provide for the handling and treatment of individual herds in which testing or epidemiology has produced evidence of infection or which was adjacent to a herd in which infection is found. Each plan shall be designed to aid the caretaker of the herd in preventing or reducing spread of the infection and in eliminating the infection.
(b) Each herd plan must be based on sound epidemiological principles and the classification of the area in which the herd is located. In prescribing a herd plan, the commission may consider, among other items:
(1) the risk of the infection spreading to other herds;
(2) the cost to other herd owners resulting from spread of the infection;
(3) the extent of infection and of possible exposure within the herd;
(4) the type of cattle operation conducted by the herd’s caretaker; and
(5) the conditions affecting the economics and management of the herd.