New World Screwworm Not a Surprise
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. New World Screwworm made its way into the U.S. last week.
But Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said his group was not caught by surprise at the announcement …
WOODALL … “This is something that, quite frankly, we, as the cattle industry, have been expecting for several months now. Ever since New World Screwworm made it out of Guatemala into Mexico right before Thanksgiving of 2024, we expected this to be inevitable.”
So, Woodall says they began planning right away …
WOODALL … “But that gave us over 18 months to get prepared. What we have seen here since the confirmation by Secretary Rollins is that we're ready. The plan is solid, it's in place, and not only is the industry ready - when I talk about the industry, I talk about the Texas cattle feeders, Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers, and NCBA, but also the Texas Animal Health Commission and USDA - the response is going as planned.”
Woodall says the way to eradicated the screwworm is through sterile insect technology, where you sterilize these flies and turn them out into the wild, because the females only mates once in her life cycle, so if you mate her with a sterile male, that's it
He says it’s been 60 years since the U.S. had to deal with the screwworm, and it took almost 40 years to eradicate.
