XXXX 2023 BYAK 2024 Study SS Part A

October 2023

Supporting Statement

Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH),

National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study:

A National Study of Poultry, Pigs, Rabbits, and Goats

OMB Control Number 0579-XXXX

Part A

1. Justification

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection of information. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

Backyard animals have played a role in multiple animal disease outbreaks that have also affected commercial farms in the U.S. For example, over 500 backyard poultry flocks across the U.S. have been affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in 2022-2023. HPAI risk is ongoing, and backyard flocks are a potential source of infection for commercial poultry flocks, so current health and management information is critical. Backyard pigs are considered a high-risk population for introduction and spread of African swine fever (ASF). Due to ASF in the Caribbean, Wildlife Services has initiated ASF surveillance in the Southeastern U.S., and baseline estimates of backyard pig ownership are needed for disease modeling and other preparedness efforts.

This submission is a request for approval to initiate the National Animal Health Monitoring System’s (NAHMS) Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study (the “Study”), an information collection by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The Study will consist of 2 components with 5 objectives as documented below. Objectives 1, 2, 3 and 5 will be answered by a survey (‘National Survey’) which will obtain national estimates of ownership of poultry¹, pigs, rabbits, and goats and describe baseline information on ownership practices. The fifth objective will be carried out in conjunction with Colorado State University (CSU) to learn more about food security status and backyard animal keeping. For the fourth objective, a survey in two cities (‘City Survey’) will be done to estimate the prevalence of chicken, pig, rabbit, and goat ownership in two of the four cities previously studied in the NAHMS Poultry 2010 study¹, as well as describe respondents’ beliefs about chicken ownership.

The collection will support the following objectives:

1. Obtain national estimates of the percentage of households that own poultry, pigs, rabbits, and goats in urban and non-urban areas of the United States.

2. For each species included in the Study, describe animal management practices such as information sources owners use to learn about animal health, access to veterinary care, length of ownership, and biosecurity practices including those relevant to antimicrobial stewardship.

3. For households that both own and do not own poultry, pigs, rabbits, and goats, describe opinions of backyard and urban ownership of chickens, and, for non-owners only, describe any contact with live poultry and intention to own any one of these species of interest in the future.

4. Estimate the prevalence of chicken, pig, rabbit and goat ownership in 2 of the cities surveyed on urban chicken ownership in 2012 (Denver, Miami), and describe respondents’ beliefs about chicken ownership to determine changes in prevalence and beliefs between 2012 and 2024.

5. Conduct a preliminary evaluation of the relationship between food security status and backyard animal keeping.

Analysis of the information collected through the Study will generate descriptive reports and information sheets. APHIS will disseminate these deliverables to industry members, academia, veterinarians, and any other interested stakeholders electronically, to include posting publicly on the NAHMS website. Data collected will provide national estimates of the percentage of households that own any of the aforementioned species and provide baseline management information. The data collected will be used to measure change in prevalence of chicken ownership over time since the NAHMS Poultry 2010 Study. These data will be useful for disease preparedness and to better understand the relationship between backyard animal keeping and food insecurity. Participation in this survey is voluntary. It is up to the individual respondent to decide whether to participate. Any published summary data will be available by following the “Small-Scale Studies” link at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/nahms.

Collection and dissemination of animal health data and information is authorized by 7 U.S.C. § 391, the Animal Industry Act of 1884, which established the precursor of the APHIS, Veterinary Services, and the Bureau of Animal Industry. Legal requirements for examining and reporting on animal disease detection and control methods were further allowed by 7 U.S.C. § 8308 of the Animal Health Protection Act, “Detection, Control, and Eradication of Diseases and Pests,” May 13, 2002.

Collection, analysis, and dissemination of livestock and poultry health information on a national basis are consistent with the APHIS mission of protecting and improving American agriculture’s productivity and competitiveness. In connection with this mission, the NAHMS program includes periodic national commodity studies to investigate animal health related issues and examine general health and management practices. These non-regulatory, voluntary studies are driven by industry and stakeholder interest, and information collected is not available from any other source on a national basis. Information about health and management practices on U.S. backyard operations is valuable to the poultry, swine, goat, and rabbit industries as well as many Federal and State partners.

Additionally, this Study was requested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to ongoing outbreaks and increases in salmonellosis cases in people associated with backyard poultry ownership (Salmonella Outbreaks Linked to Backyard Poultry | CDC).There is a need to better understand the change in prevalence since the last poultry study in 2010 and to obtain baseline national estimates of backyard poultry ownership. This will also be useful for goats, rabbits, and pigs, as little information is available about these animal populations. APHIS is proposing that the Study be carried out in 2024.

NAHMS staff has completed a needs assessment which was a collaborative effort with researchers, extension veterinarians, Federal and State personnel, and clinicians. The needs assessment results were not published publicly but found that there was a lack of information and a combined desire to increase knowledge around the following topics: national, up-to-date ownership rates of poultry, pigs, rabbits, and goats; the management of these animals in non-commercial, household and backyard settings; the best ways to reach these owners regarding health and management education; the use of veterinary care in these settings; involvement in local or national animal health and marketing programs; and biosecurity practices and knowledge. Information gathered was used to determine the Study objectives and design and develop the Study questionnaires.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

Data collected, analyzed, and interpreted will be disseminated to a wide variety of stakeholders. Veterinarians will use information derived from analyses to improve preventive measures and biosecurity practices. Extension veterinarians will use the information to identify gaps in disease knowledge and information outreach efforts. State and Federal officials, responsible for regulatory veterinary medicine, will use the information to gain a more complete picture of animal management practices as a basis for program planning and to direct research priorities. State and Federal officials will use the data to make scientifically based decisions. Public health officials will also benefit from the availability of scientifically valid national estimates of backyard ownership of poultry, rabbits, goats, and pigs. Public health officials will use the information in disease preparedness and to understand the prevalence of species ownership throughout the country. Research scientists will use the information to define current and future animal health issues and direct research programming.

The NAHMS Urban Chicken 2010 Study found that in the four cities studied (Denver, Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City) less than one percent (0.8 percent, SE = 0.1) of surveyed households owned chickens at the time of survey administration. However, nearly 4 percent of households planned to have chickens within the next 5 years. Many recent popular press articles note an increase in backyard chicken ownership, however, population-based estimates of ownership are not available. (https://www.npr.org/2020/04/03/826925180/we-are-swamped-coronavirus-propels-interest-in-raising-backyard-chickens-for-egg). Important biosecurity findings were identified as well, including the finding that more than 50% of backyard poultry owners were unaware of the risk of contracting Salmonella from poultry and 25% did not wash their hands after contacting poultry, which are important data points for education and outreach programs.

APHIS will use the data collected from the Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study to:

• Address emerging animal health and disease issues;

• Aid in disease preparedness, such as for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and African swine fever (ASF);

• Provide estimates of both outcome (disease or other parameters) and exposure (risks and components) variables that can be used in analytic studies in the future by APHIS;

• Provide input into the design of surveillance systems for specific diseases, including avian influenza;

• Provide parameters for animal disease spread models, such as those used to model spread of foreign animal diseases like African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, in addition to diseases currently in the United States such as avian influenza and rabbit hemorrhagic disease;

• Inform future NAHMS poultry, swine, and goat studies;

• Fill information gaps on poultry ownership, especially in light of media reports concerning increases in backyard chicken ownership during and after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and management practices to inform projects aiming to reduce human salmonellosis cases, including education, outreach, and extension programs;

• Provide information on the relationship between food insecurity and backyard animal keeping.

Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study Data Collection Forms

National Survey Component

Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study Survey (National Survey) – Probability Panel

This survey will be administered by a private survey company sub-contracted under a cooperative agreement, collect national information on ownership of backyard poultry, pigs, goats, and rabbits, and obtain baseline management information on each of these species. The survey will also ask questions on attitudes about chickens in urban settings, contact with live poultry and any intent to own any of the species of interest not already owned; a subset of respondents who do not have any of the species will also answer these questions. Food security questions will be asked of respondents who do and do not keep any of the species. The survey company will work with NORC at the University of Chicago² to use the AmeriSpeak probability-based survey panel. The survey will be administered by web or phone. The survey company will work with NORC to enter and validate data collected and provide the completed data file to NAHMS in Fort Collins, Colorado. They will also perform preliminary analysis and reporting. For the questionnaire version that participants receive, this survey will be called Opinion Survey. The purpose is to not deter potential respondents from participating if they do not keep any of the species.

Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study Survey (National Survey) – Nonprobability Sample

This survey will be administered by a private survey company sub-contracted under a cooperative agreement, collect national information on ownership of backyard poultry, pigs, goats, and rabbits, and obtain baseline management information on each of these species. The survey will also ask questions on attitudes about chickens in urban settings, contact with live poultry and any intent to own any of the species of interest not already owned. The survey company will work with NORC at the University of Chicago to administer the survey to respondents from nonprobability survey samples (opt-in panels) to supplement the responses from the probability panel. Respondents to the opt-in panel will additionally answer some demographic questions that match those that are included in the survey panel. (Survey panel member demographic information will not be collected as part of this survey but will be used in conjunction with the survey data to facilitate weighting, non-response adjustments, and analysis). The survey will be administered by web. The survey company will work with NORC to enter and validate data collected and provide the completed data file to NAHMS in Fort Collins, Colorado. They will also perform preliminary analysis and reporting. For the questionnaire version that participants receive, this survey will be called ‘Opinion Survey.’ The purpose is to not deter potential respondents from participating if they do not keep any of the species.

City Survey Component

Backyard Animal Prevalence Record (City Survey)

This survey will be administered by a private survey company sub-contracted under a cooperative agreement to collect information on ownership of chickens, pigs, rabbits, and goats in an urban environment and attitudes about chickens in urban settings in two cities (Denver, Colorado and Miami, Florida). The survey will also collect basic demographic information (i.e., description of home, age, sex, and race/ethnicity). The survey company will administer the questionnaire using a push to web invitation by mail. Respondents who do not respond initially using the link for the web-based questionnaire will be mailed a reminder postcard and a hardcopy questionnaire. A subset of those who do not respond to the web or paper version will be contacted for a phone interview. The survey company will enter and validate data collected, provide preliminary analysis and reporting, and provide the completed data file to NAHMS in Fort Collins, Colorado. For the questionnaire version that participants receive, this survey will be called Opinion Survey. The purpose is to not deter potential respondents from participating if they do not keep any of the species.

Supporting City Survey Documents

Please note, only half of City Survey respondents will receive an incentive. More details provided in Question 9 below.

Initial Announcement Postcard for City Survey with Incentive

This postcard will be mailed out to potential respondents to invite them to participate in the survey and let them know about the $2.00 incentive.

Initial Announcement Postcard for City Survey with No Incentive

This postcard will be mailed out to potential respondents to invite them to participate in the survey.

Push to Web Letter for City Survey with Incentive

This letter will inform the respondents about the survey and provide options to complete the survey using a QR code or website link. This letter will also contain the $2.00 incentive.

Push to Web Letter for City Survey with No Incentive

This letter will inform the respondents about the survey and provide options to complete the survey using a QR code or website link.

Reminder Postcard for City Survey

This postcard is to remind respondents to respond to the survey and will provide the QR code. Those respondents who have not participated will also receive a hard copy of the survey.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

Respondents will have the option of completing the surveys via a web-based instrument. For those respondents who do not prefer an electronic option, there will be a phone option for the National Survey, and there will be a paper option and phone option for a subset of respondents, if needed to improve response rates, for the City Survey. Providing electronic and telephone modes for completing the surveys will reduce burden for respondents who prefer these options for participating in the Study, and who may have difficulty or limited time for completing and mailing back a paper survey. Additionally, phone and electronic options for participation could reduce the burden by allowing respondents to skip out of questions that do not apply to their situation.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purpose(s) described in item 2 above.

Literature searches for existing data relevant to the Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study have been performed. Available data were reviewed and compiled from all known sources. Sources reviewed include cooperative State research, publications, other Federal and State agencies, and universities. Personnel from Federal agencies and academia were consulted in their areas of expertise to identify potential duplication. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) collects national information on pet ownership, including bird ownership, with the latest edition being the 2017-2018 AVMA Pet Ownership and Demographics Source Book. However, they only ask about pet birds, including pet poultry, and would be missing owners who raise chickens for eggs or meat and may not consider their chickens to be pets. They also ask about pet livestock as a combined category (pigs, goats, etc.) and pet rabbits, but not other livestock or rabbits not considered to be pets. They also do not ask any questions on biosecurity practices. Therefore, no other entity/source is collecting and analyzing this type of information on the prevalence of these species of interest on a national scale nor obtaining data on management practices.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities,, describe the methods used to minimize burden.

All of the respondents are households or individuals. There are no small businesses. These voluntary surveys are designed to collect the minimum amount of data required from a minimum number of respondents to ensure statistically and scientifically valid data.

6. Describe the consequence to federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

More than ten years have passed since the last NAHMS poultry study data collection, and an updated look at the health and management practices of backyard poultry owners is needed, as well as understanding the change in prevalence of chicken ownership since the last study.

The type and quality of data collected by NAHMS is unique; no other entity is collecting this type of information in the U.S.

Without this type of data, the ability to detect trends in management, production, and health status, either directly or indirectly, would be reduced or nonexistent. The possibility of assessing the reduction of risk to human health from foodborne pathogens and zoonotic diseases due to management changes based on NAHMS data would also be nonexistent. Without this Study, disease spread models would not have the necessary parameters to more accurately predict the spread of an outbreak.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information collection guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5:

• requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly;

• requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it;

• requiring respondents to submit more than an original and two copies of any document;

• requiring respondents to retain records, other than health, medical, government contract, grant-in-aid, or tax records for more than 3 years;

• in connection with a statistical survey, that is not designed to produce valid and reliable results that can be generalized to the universe of study;

• requiring the use of a statistical data classification that has not been reviewed and approved by OMB;

• that includes a pledge of confidentiality that is not supported by authority established in statute or regulation, that is not supported by disclosure and data security policies that are consistent with the pledge, or which unnecessarily impedes sharing of data with other agencies for compatible confidential use; or

• requiring respondents to submit proprietary trade secret, or other confidential information unless the agency can demonstrate that it has instituted procedures to protect the information’s confidentiality to the extent permitted by law.

No special circumstances exist that would require this collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information collection guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting form, and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported. If applicable, provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the Agency’s notice, soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB.

The following experts were consulted during planning and development of the Study:

• Dr. Jarra Jagne

Department of Public & Ecosystem Health, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, NY 14853

Email: jj34@cornell.edu

Phone: 607-253-4031

• Dr. Rocio Crespo

Professor, Department of Population Health and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 1060 William Moore Drive, Raleigh, NC 27607

Email: rcrespo@ncsu.edu

Phone: 919-513-6254

• Dr. Glen Almond

Professor, Swine Health and Production Management, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 1060 William Moore Drive, Raleigh, NC 27607

Email: gwalmond@ncsu.edu
Phone: 919-513-6370

We regularly consult with these individuals regarding study objectives, goals, and plans. Our experts contributed to needs assessments by providing questions relevant to biosecurity and animal health management. Using their current research in animal disease management, they helped to recommend and provide feedback on numerous survey questions that are beneficial to stakeholders. Their expertise was particularly useful for poultry and swine-related survey questions. The experts encouraged participation in survey pretesting and help to promote the Study at national conferences.

APHIS published in the Federal Register on November 7, 2022 (see 87 FRN 67007) a 60-day public comment notice for this information collection request. We received five comments. One comment requested addition of data on salmonella illness linked to backyard poultry which has been added in Question 1. Two were from citizens generally opposed to the Study, and two comments were from citizens supportive of the Study.

This information collection request was reviewed by the USDA National Agricultural Statistic Service (NASS).

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

For the National Survey, individuals in the probability panel will receive “AmeriPoints” in exchange for being part of the panel. The total amount of “AmeriPoints” for this survey have an estimated value of approximately $2.00 (USD) for a complete response. A similar incentive will be used for participants who are part of the nonprobability sample as well. These incentives are offered by NORC as part of their ordinary survey panel operations.

For the City Survey and as an incentive experiment, half of the individuals selected for the City Survey will receive a $2.00 (USD) incentive, included in the push to web mailing, as compensation for their time. This will be randomized by city, so that half of the selected participants in each City Survey component will receive the $2.00 (USD) incentive. Because owners of the species of interest are a rare group, participation rate must be high in order to get a sufficient sample. An incentive is proposed to evaluate if this results in a higher participation rate. Additionally, we anticipate that use of an incentive will decrease the overall cost of implementing the survey by reducing the number of respondents who must be reached to get sufficient participation.

The NAHMS Backyard Animal Keeping Study Team consulted with an Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) study methodologist who provided verbal guidance on and endorsed the incentive experiment for the Study during meetings conducted between April 2022 through September 2022. Use of an incentive was discussed and encouraged by OIRA during planning meetings regarding the Study design and appropriate survey panels. The aforementioned supporting City Survey documents clearly state if they contain the $2.00 (USD) incentive.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

Information collected by the survey companies on behalf of APHIS will not be protected by The Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act, (CIPSEA). However, APHIS, and the survey companies will protect the confidentiality of the information collected through the means and processes below. APHIS will use the information acquired from study respondents for statistical purposes only.

All forms, data, and questionnaires will refer to the respondent by a numeric code assigned by the survey company. All completed survey forms, without names or other personally identifiable information (PII), will be stored securely by the survey company for the City Survey. NORC at the University of Chicago will manage the responses from the National Survey panel. APHIS will not have access to the respondent PII stored on the NORC National Survey panel, the nonprobability sample, or the sampling list for the City Survey. These lists are privately held, and APHIS will not have access to them nor will APHIS have a legal right to obtain or distribute them. Data shared with APHIS-NAHMS will be de-identified and only associated with a numeric code.

The data will be transferred securely to NAHMS and will then be cleaned and validated in a secure, air-gapped APHIS-NAHMS data lab or in a secure, virtual APHIS-NAHMS data lab space. APHIS will notify the survey companies to destroy the link between participant and numeric code and the full set of survey data once data collection, entry, and validation are complete. Analysis performed by APHIS-NAHMS will be performed on secure APHIS systems. APHIS-NAHMS will coordinate with the contractor for portions of the statistical analysis, which will then be transferred securely to APHIS-NAHMS.

APHIS will only release study results based on summary estimates and results from statistical analyses to protect the privacy and confidentiality of individual participants. Record-level information will not be released. While every effort will be made to ensure respondent confidentiality, it is possible that information could be released as required by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), or in the case of required disease reporting. However, names, addresses, and personal information will not be linked with survey information.

Several additional U.S. Codes apply to data collected by APHIS-NAHMS:

• Title 7, Section 2276 – Confidentiality of Information.

• Title 18, Section 1902 – Disclosure of Crop Information and Speculation Thereon.

• Title 18, Section 1905 – Disclosure of Confidential Information Generally.

• Section 1619 of the 2008 Farm Bill.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. This justification should include the reasons why the agency considers the questions necessary, the specific uses to be made of the information, the explanation to be given to persons from whom the information is requested, and any steps to be taken to obtain their consent.

CSU will conduct a preliminary evaluation of the relationship between food security status and backyard animal keeping, comparing respondents who have any of the species of interest to those who do not. The questions come from the Economic Research Service (ERS) food security survey. The survey measure was developed by the U.S. Food Security Measurement Project, which is an ongoing collaboration among Federal agencies, academic researchers, and private commercial and nonprofit organizations. ERS plays a leading role in research on food security and food security measurement in U.S. households and communities. Using questions from the ERS survey will allow standardization of food security data collection with established ERS measures while also providing unique insight into the relationship between food security status and backyard animal keeping. This data collection is not possible to do with the ERS food security survey and could be useful for future planning and research efforts on this topic.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information.

• Indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in item 13 of OMB Form 83-1.

A total of 4,080 burden hours are needed to complete the Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study information collection activity. A detailed burden estimate has been included on the enclosed APHIS 71 Form.

In addition, Table B.4 in justification Part B includes estimates of burden, broken out by study component and by type of respondent. Notably, there are two primary types of respondents to the National Survey: (1) one that responds but does not have any of the species of interest, and (2) one that responds and has at least one of the species of interest. The first type of respondent will average approximately 3 minutes to complete the questionnaire, as they will only complete the first question in the questionnaire; however, a subset of 800 of these respondents will complete the first question of the questionnaire along with a short list of questions for non-species owners. The second type of respondent will answer the section(s) relevant to the species they own and will average approximately 8 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

The two study components, the National Survey and the City Survey, were not designed to have overlapping samples, but were also not designed to have mutually exclusive samples. There is a small chance that a single household could be included in both study components. Because of personally identifiable information (PII) protection and the random aspects of the study design, it is unknown which households, if any, would be included in both samples. Very crude calculations reveal the possibility of an overlap in the samples to be very rare (0.01-0.04% of the City Survey samples). Because we don’t have solid quantitative evidence for any potential overlap, we present burden estimates assuming that there is no overlap in the samples between the National Survey and City Survey study components.

• Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using the correct wage rate categories.

Respondent costs: Estimated respondent costs for the information collection proposed are calculated based on a data collection estimate of $29.76 per hour for all occupations (SOC Code 00-0000). The total respondent cost for the Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study is $121,421. (4,080 hours x $29.76).

The wage estimate was obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2022 Occupational Employment and Wages report, Table 1, SOCC 00-0000, All Occupations, found at (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ocwage.pdf).

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. (Do not include the cost of any hour burden shown in items 12 and 14). The cost estimate should be split into two components: (a) a total capital and start-up cost component (annualized over its expected useful life); and (b) a total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component.

There are no capital/startup costs or ongoing operations and maintenance costs for respondents or record keepers associated with this information collection.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. Provide a description of the method used to estimate cost and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

The estimated cost to the Federal Government to administer the Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study is $624,650. For more specific information, please see the enclosed APHIS 79 Form.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-1.

This is a new information collection request to obtain prevalence of backyard ownership of poultry, pigs, goats, and rabbits, as well as baseline information on management practices. There are 112,745 respondents (all individuals), 112,745 responses, and 4,080 hours of burden.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation, and publication.

Data collection for the Backyard Animal Keeping 2024 Study (National Survey) and data collection for the Backyard Animal Prevalence Record (City Survey) will occur from March through May 2024. Information from the surveys will be summarized immediately following the collection, editing, and cleaning of the data. For the National Survey, the survey company will turnover a clean, validated dataset from NORC at the University of Chicago to APHIS-NAHMS. For the City Survey, the survey company will enter data into a database management system, and turnover a clean, validated dataset to APHIS-NAHMS. For both surveys, the survey company will conduct preliminary analysis and reporting. APHIS-NAHMS will perform, and will coordinate with the contractor to perform portions of the statistical analysis, including descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions and point estimates, along with measures of uncertainty such as standard errors and confidence intervals. SAS, SUDAAN, R, or other appropriate statistical software will be used to correctly calculate the standard error to account for the complex study design. Estimates of uncertainty will be published along with the point estimates.

APHIS strives to reduce the time between the end of data collection and release of a final publication. Tableau dashboard visualizations from the Study will be made available to universities, researchers, practitioners, animal health related industries, Federal agencies, legislators, and any other interested parties. Informational sheets and manuscripts using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics on data collected will be released during and after 2024. Publications from this Study are expected in early to mid-2025.

Any published summary data will be available by following the “General Studies” link at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/nahms.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

The OMB approval expiration date will be displayed on the electronic and paper surveys and read over the phone.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in the “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act.”

APHIS is able to certify compliance with all provisions in the Paperwork Reduction Act.

1 The National Survey asks about poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and gamebirds. The City Survey focuses on chickens, since this was the species asked about in the NAHMS Poultry 2010 study.

2 From its founding in 1941-2010, the organization was known as the National Opinion Research Center. In 2010 the name was changed to NORC at the University of Chicago.

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