At the Beef Improvement Federation Meeting in Amarillo, Texas, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, spoke with the president and CEO of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Ben Weinheimer, to get a detailed update on the war against New World Screwworm (NWS). Weinheimer represents feedlots in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Today is part two of their conversation and focuses on what might happen if NWS makes it into the U.S.
In part one of the conversation, Weinheimer said that the flies seem to be stalled just north of the Isthmus of Mexico, between the Gulf and Pacific Ocean; however, the potential for the flies to appear on U.S. soil is still a very real possibility, especially if the flies break through this last geographic barrier.
“Logically, as that geography gets wider, it takes more sterile flies to adequately populate that area with a sterile fly population,” he forewarned, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the barrier where it is currently.
“The good thing about it is that we’ve got a lot of scientific information on our side relative to what is being done in Mexico to treat animals and conduct inspections,” Weinheimer commented. “We are also looking forward to seeing some additional information from USDA as they’ll be down in Mexico with a large group of their folks here in the coming weeks to do some on the ground assessments and really be able to bring that information out to us and give us a full-spectrum analysis for exactly what Mexico is doing and how they’re doing it.”
On May 11, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports from southern border ports into the U.S., and that ban remains in effect, which concerns many in the cattle industry.
“Our members are anxious to see the border reopened with confidence around the border inspection and treatment protocols that we’ve put in place, dating back to earlier this year,” Weinheimer shared. “We really believe that those cattle inspections are verifying that cattle are free of any disease or pests that are crossing, so that is one that gives us a lot of confidence around that. The damage is being done as we speak, though, in terms of our on-feed numbers.”
Mexican cattle make up a minimum of 15 percent of the U.S. cattle on feed numbers in an average year. “Everybody is observing that here in the southern region,” Weinheimer pointed out. “A decline in placements is playing out long-term and creating implications for all of us when it comes to supply chain sustainability in this space from a numbers perspective, because pulling that 1.2 or 1.3 million head of cattle out of our supply chain has ripple effects – not just through the cattle feeding sector, but on through the packers and through our U.S. consumers.”
He highlighted the efforts of cattle feeders to maintain viable occupancy in feedlots to meet margins, but without Mexican cattle and with the decreasing supply of U.S. cattle, this is becoming increasingly more difficult.
“That is important to us,” he said. “In the interim, you have seen our members have to work a little harder, both at procuring native cattle, which we know what that looks like on projective break-evens as high as this feeder cattle market is. In addition to that, our members have drawn more heavily on these beef on dairy crosses.”
While still a concern today, an end to the border closure seems closer after the USDA announced an aggressive five-pronged plan to heighten the battle against NWS.
As the normal cycle of the cattle industry turns, the cow calf producer is currently in the driver’s seat, cattle feeders are holding tight in the bed of the truck, and packers are being dragged behind.
“You don’t have to rewind very many years to when that was the other way around, and we’ll continue to work through that normal cycle depending on where the leverage exists,” Weinheimer shared. “It is good for us as far as some of the margins being put back into both the cattle feeding sector and the stocker and cow calf sectors.
“We’ve sent the signal all the way back to the front end of the supply chain that if you are considering rebuilding your herd, now is a good time to do it. It’s a hard decision to make when you can take one to town and make a tremendous amount of money on that heifer, but one for which it appears that this market is going to be good for them for several years going forward. As Mother Nature presents the opportunity with precipitation and forage out there for the ranching sector to retain heifers, we would look forward to seeing it in the next few years. With more feeder cattle in the supply chain, it will help balance things out again.”
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