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Cattle producer wants greater transparency from USDA on New World Screwworm response

Cattle producers want the USDA to be more transparent about New World screwworm.

Jeff Reed, a cattle producer from southern Missouri, and the past president of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, says transparency could help him make more proactive management decisions.

“The facilities and the true timeline on the sterile flies,” he says. “Obviously Texas, New Mexico, Arizona will be their priorities, but as it spreads to our state, you know we have enough. Do we have enough to traps the pest?”

The pest hasn’t been confirmed in Missouri, but it is present in the southern United States.

Sterile flies are the cornerstone of controlling and eradicating NWS. USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Dudley Hoskins, tells Brownfield the current sterile fly production helps contain NWS, but more flies are needed. 

“Right now the number of sterile flies available remains to be 100 million and until we get the sterile fly production facility in Mexico online and until we get the more air base production facility online, we will still only have 100 million sterile flies.”

Hoskins says 400 million per week is needed to eradicate the pest.

Mexico’s production facility is expected to open later this summer, and a facility in Texas is expected by the end of next year. Hoskins says the USDA is using model-based targeting for the fly dispersal strategy, and it’s effective.  

Reed has concerns about the ecological and livestock implications of the spread of the pest to deer, feral hogs and other wildlife. Hoskins says it’s a “slippery variable.”

“That’ll probably be the most challenging part of this effort: identifying it in the wildlife. If wildlife is infested, to identify it and address it quickly.”

Reed says in the meantime, he’s been implementing better fly control strategies for the cattle on his farm.

“We’ve seen, you know, these cattle foggers that people are putting on their feed trucks,” he says. “It’s really kind of developed in the last year. We’ve been going back to some of the old cattle oiler back rubs, and getting cattle used to those now to get the flies off that way. We still feed an Insect Growth Regulator in our mineral.”

Hoskins says the USDA welcomes feedback from all livestock producers, and more information can be found online.