Concerns over the New World screwworm entering the United States have grown in recent weeks, but Texas cattle groups say that it is nothing new.
The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association says that it has been tracking the threat since last October.
According to Jason Skaggs, “It’s something that the U.S. has continually put a lot of money into down in Panama. Supporting the sterile fly facility down there, the COPAG facility, and a lot of efforts in Mexico as well over the years, but this thing is on the move again and we’re trying to get people educated. You know, a whole new generation of folks have never had to deal with it and really trying to revamp and reup all of our efforts and really take maybe a few pages out of the playbook from the past as well.”
Skaggs also praised USDA officials, including Secretary Rollins, for their quick response to the threat.
“Secretary Rollins has been a stalwart for us on this. We were down in south Texas in the valley with her recently, where she announced a new fly disbursement facility down in the Moore Airfield, Mission, Texas area. So, we’re just very thankful for her and her team. They’ve been very responsive. She’s been to Texas a few times, other times, to sit down and talk with us and just really look at ways that we can think out ahead some. We’ve got short-term response. We’ve got a kind of mid-term, you know, response that we’ve outlined and obviously a longer-term thing that we hope we don’t have to get to that point, but we certainly are looking at all options.”
Those efforts now include the use of Swormlure-5, a synthetic bait the Texas Department of Agriculture plans to use to attract and kill potential screwworm flies.
Skaggs says that protecting cattle is especially important right now, with herd numbers low across the U.S.
