In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays speaks with National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Buck Wehrbein, who has spent decades in the beef industry, with experience in feedlots across Texas and Nebraska. Reflecting on his time leading the association, Wehrbein said, “It’s incredibly rapid. I didn’t expect it to go by so fast. I have enjoyed every minute of it.” Despite enjoying the role, he noted that serious challenges face the industry—chief among them, the New World screwworm outbreak. “We’ve got the screwworm hanging over everybody’s head, and that’s a serious issue,” he said. “It’s not going to be any fun, and it’s going to take time to get the sterile fly facilities up and going, but we know how to get rid of it.”
Wehrbein emphasized that while the problem is daunting, the cattle industry has the experience and tools to manage it. “We know how to deal with it, We also have more tools than we used to, like ivermectin,” he explained. His confidence is grounded in history—this isn’t the industry’s first battle with screwworm infestations. However, he cautioned that it will still be a difficult and lengthy process for those directly affected.
Another pressing concern for NCBA is the closure of the U.S.–Mexico border to feeder cattle due to disease control measures. Wehrbein noted that this restriction adds stress to already low cattle numbers. “We know we’re at a 73-year low on our own herd number, and then not having those cattle come in exacerbates that,” he said. “We believe the border needs to be open the protocol set in place by APHIS and the Mexican side is more than adequate.” While advocating for trade to resume, he also expressed respect for the Secretary of Agriculture’s caution, adding, “We’re supportive of that, even as we would like to see the border open.”
Wehrbein also warned about the unintended consequences if the border remains closed for too long. “If we can’t get this border open fairly soon, the Mexicans might start thinking seriously about ramping up their feedlot industry,” he said. “That would be an unintended consequence of this, of course, and so we’re concerned about that.” He also worried about potential losses in U.S. packing capacity, saying, “What if we lose a packing plant? We’ve seen that movie before, and it isn’t pretty when the herd gets back to full strength.”
Finally, Wehrbein pointed to the role of the Mexican government in preventing and addressing the outbreak. He expressed frustration that more wasn’t done earlier, saying, “The Mexican government really let their producers down on this could have probably stopped it down there in southern Mexico and chose not to.” Still, he remained cautiously optimistic, noting that the latest reports suggest Mexican officials “are working a lot more diligently on some of these issues.” With the most recent screwworm cases now “about 390 miles from the U.S. border,” Wehrbein said the industry will stay vigilant but hopeful that the situation continues to improve.
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.
