A Montana court judge has granted a preliminary injunction in a case brought by R-CALF against the Montana State Beef Council on the beef checkoff. R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard says the decision prevents the Council from collecting checkoff dollars while the case is being heard.

He says the court’s ruling has significant implications for beef checkoff programs in other states.

Bullard says because it is a preliminary injunction, their entire court case will go forward.

Bullard says the Montana court case is the first of many steps his group is taking to restore the integrity of the beef checkoff. He says they don’t want producers taxed through the checkoff only to have that money used to promote their competitor’s products.