## Facts

- Congress created the Dairy Termination Program (DTP) to reduce milk oversupply by contracting with producers who agreed to dispose of dairy cattle for slaughter or export and refrain from dairy production for five years.
- The USDA adopted an identification rule (Notice LD-249) requiring DTP cattle to receive a hot-iron brand on the face and rejected alternatives such as freeze branding, chemical branding, ear tags, and tattoos.
- A local humane society and two participating dairy farmers challenged the facial hot-iron branding requirement.
- Plaintiffs alleged the requirement inflicted severe and unnecessary pain on animals and was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
- The farmers also alleged the federal requirement risked exposing them to liability under New York animal-cruelty law.
- The court issued a temporary restraining order barring enforcement and held an evidentiary hearing with veterinary and other testimony about pain, tissue damage, and feasible alternative identification methods.

## Issues

1. Whether the humane society and the participating farmers had standing and presented a justiciable controversy to challenge the USDA branding requirement.
2. Whether the USDA’s selection of hot-iron facial branding, as opposed to less painful identification methods, was likely arbitrary and capricious under the APA.
3. Whether plaintiffs satisfied the requirements for a preliminary injunction (likelihood of success, irreparable harm, balance of hardships, and public interest).
4. Whether the risk of conflict with New York animal-cruelty law was relevant to standing, irreparable harm, and equitable relief.

## Decision

- The court granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of the DTP hot-iron facial branding requirement and converted the temporary restraining order into preliminary relief.
- The court denied the government’s motion to dismiss.
- The court found plaintiffs had standing: the humane society alleged injury to its legally recognized mission to prevent cruelty, and the farmers faced imminent harm from compelled conduct and potential state-law exposure.
- The court found plaintiffs showed a likelihood of success on the merits because the agency’s selection of facial hot-iron branding likely failed to account for relevant considerations, including animal welfare and feasible, less harmful alternatives.
- The court found irreparable harm from non-compensable injury to animals (pain and permanent facial injury) and from the farmers’ forced choice between compliance with federal rules and possible violation of state law.
- The court determined the government’s identification interest could be served by alternative methods, making the balance of hardships and public interest favor interim relief.

## Legal Principles

- Under APA arbitrary-and-capricious review, agency action is vulnerable when the agency fails to consider relevant factors or disregards feasible alternatives that materially reduce serious harms.
- A plaintiff may obtain preliminary injunctive relief against enforcement of an administrative rule by showing likely success on an APA claim, irreparable harm, favorable balance of hardships, and that an injunction serves the public interest.
- Animal-welfare concerns can be relevant factors in evaluating the reasonableness of an agency’s regulatory choice when the regulation directly causes pain or injury to animals.
- Risk that a federal regulatory mandate places regulated parties in tension with state criminal or regulatory obligations can support standing and irreparable harm for equitable relief.

## Conclusion

The court preliminarily enjoined USDA’s requirement that DTP cattle be hot-iron branded on the face, holding plaintiffs were likely to prove the rule arbitrary and capricious because the agency did not adequately account for the severity of animal harm and the availability of effective, less painful identification methods.


Humane Soc’y of Rochester & Monroe Cnty. for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Inc. v. Lyng, 633 F. Supp. 480 (W.D.N.Y. 1986)