WASHINGTON (AP)--The U.S. Department of Agriculture appealed the decision of a federal judge in Montana to continue an almost 2-year-old ban on importing Canadian cattle arising from bovine spongiform encephalopathy disease north of the United States.

USDA officials had planned to lift the import ban on Canadian cows March 7, but U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull granted five days earlier a request from U.S. ranchers for a preliminary injunction to continue the prohibition.

The USDA asked to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals March 17 to overturn Cebull's ruling.

The government's decision to resume cattle shipments from Canada "provide the utmost protection to both U.S. consumers and livestock," a brief statement from the Agriculture Department said.

The ranchers' group, R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America, said U.S. beef is safe, and the group wants to keep it that way. "It is premature, under the circumstances, to reopen the Canadian border," the group said.

Only cattle younger than 30 months were to have been shipped to the United States, because it's believed that infection levels rise with age.

Canadian cattle and beef shipments were banned after a cow was discovered with BSE in May 2003 in Alberta province. Two more Alberta cows tested positive for the disease in January.

The only U.S. cow confirmed to have BSE also came from Canada.

Some boneless Canadian beef from younger animals is already allowed into the United States, but the border reopening would have allowed a wider array of meat from younger cattle.

Consuming meat from an animal with BSE can cause a fatal brain disorder in humans called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Date: 3/23/05