(NAFB) – The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a complaint against USDA and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The group says the new rule requiring electronically readable (EID) ear tags for certain cattle and bison transported across states lines is unlawful compared to the long-used visual tags. The NCLA, representing ranchers, farmers, and livestock producers who move cattle across state lines, urges the U.S. District Court for South Dakota to halt this illegal attempt to eliminate an already in-place efficient means of cattle identification. “USDA and APHIS are pursuing their objectives without any regard to the statutory limitations placed on them by Congress,” says Kara Rollins, Litigation Counsel for NCLA. “Sadly, in this instance, America’s ranchers have been left holding the bag and footing the bill for this unlawful rule.” NCLA says the new APHIS rule imposes punishing new financial and practical burdens, particularly on smaller and independent cattle producers.