Cattle group, ranchers sue USDA over animal id rule

A national cattle organization is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rule to require the use of electronic/radio frequency identification (RFID) in cattle and bison.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed the complaint on behalf of lead plaintiff R-CALF USA and co-plaintiffs South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance along with ranchers Kenny and Roxie Fox, of Belvidere, South Dakota, Tracy and Donna Hunt of Newcastle, Wyoming and Rick and Theresa Fox of Hermosa, South Dakota.

Rick Fox said he hopes to see elected officials “step up to the plate” and put a stop to this mandate that “does nothing that isn’t already being accomplished.”

USDA had “no foresight” in their rulemaking said Fox. “The U.S. cattle industry doesn’t need this, they are making a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” he said.

“Why should groups and individuals have to bring a lawsuit against government bureaucrats (unelected employees)?” He asked.

R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard said the plaintiffs allege that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Services (APHIS) did not have the authority to mandate the use of RFID tags.

“Congress didn’t authorize USDA to enforce the Animal Health Production Act with penalties,” said Bullard.

The plaintiffs also allege that USDA has “failed to calculate the true costs of the program,” said Bullard, which violates the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

NCLA said this in its news release: In 2013, APHIS promulgated a final rule regulating traceability for interstate livestock movements, a regulation that permitted several forms of “official identification” for certain cattle and bison moving across state lines, including both visual-only and electronically readable eartags and providing producers with flexibility to choose among options. Over the past decade, the agency advanced and abandoned less formal measures for mandating radio frequency identification (RFID) eartags. In May 2024, however, APHIS issued its new rule to end the use of visual-only eartags as a form of official identification for certain cattle and bison moving between states, requiring visually readable EID eartags in their place. This illegal move was also unnecessary, as the existing Animal Disease Traceability framework is already proven effective.

NCLA also said USDA did not prove how its requirement for electronic identification “is necessary to prevent the introduction or dissemination of any pest or disease of livestock.” 

“These agencies have identified no reason the current tagging system is inadequate. They cannot issue a rule just because they want it,” said John Vecchione, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA, in the alliance’s official news release.