In today’s Beef Buzz, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays spoke with Dr. Rod Hall, Oklahoma’s State Veterinarian, who addressed concerns about the potential arrival of the New World screw worm in the United States. While the pest is still “several hundred miles south of the Rio Grande River,” Dr. Hall emphasized the importance of proactive planning. “We have a plan in place that is a draft plan. We’ve begun talking to some of our livestock industry people… We’re going to be fine-tuning it over the next several weeks,” he explained, adding, “We still believe it’s going to be several months before we get it—if we do get it.”
One of the key tools in the draft plan is controlling animal movement. Dr. Hall stated firmly, “USDA says, and I agree, animal movement restrictions are the best tool that we have when we get it to stop it.” These restrictions won’t be limited to livestock alone, as the screw worm can infect “any warm-blooded animal… even pets and humans.” Despite the likely inconvenience, he reassured producers: “We will find ways for them to [move livestock]. It’s just going to be a little more time consuming and a little more involved.”
Dr. Hall also pointed to Texas as the likely first line of defense, saying, “We’ll be closely watching how the Texas Animal Health Commission handles their veterinary inspections.” In the event of an outbreak reaching Oklahoma, the state is prepared to mobilize resources. “We have in the neighborhood of about 40 or 50 inspectors… Commissioner Arthur will allow us to utilize them,” Hall noted. He also mentioned collaborating with “accredited veterinarians, regular practitioners, OSU Extension personnel, possibly USDA wildlife people.”
Reflecting on past control efforts, Dr. Hall discussed the sterile fly program developed in the 1950s, where USDA researchers learned that the female screw worm fly mates only once. “They came up with the idea that if they could irradiate male screw worm flies the eggs would not be viable.” This strategy had once eradicated the pest from the U.S., but “these flies that they’ve been using now for 70 years or so gradually lost their effectiveness. Don’t really understand how that happened or why.”
Today, a new strain of sterile flies is showing promise, but there are limitations. “It’s more effective now than it was two or three years ago. So we’ve got that going for us,” Hall said. However, there’s a bottleneck in production: “We’re down now to only one plant in the country of Panama It produces about 100 million flies a week but that’s not enough.” As a result, Dr. Hall stressed the need for vigilance: “We’re really dependent on people finding it, notifying the authorities, getting it treated, and preventing movement of any animals that are carrying the screw worm.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
