North Texas cattle ranchers on alert amid New World screwworm case
The New World screwworm isn't a worm. It's a fly that can burrow into tiny wounds, ears, or mouths of animals and kill them.
The first detection of these parasites in the United States in 6 decades was recorded in South Texas this week. Now, cattle ranchers are scrambling to keep their livestock protected.
Suzanne Fulton has owned her cattle ranch in Denton County for four decades.
"The slogan for Fulton Farms is Fulton Farms, home of fabulous females," Fulton said.
She comes from a line of female cattle farmers.
"It's always something going on with issues in farming and stresses," Fulton said.
Now Fulton has a new worry: the screwworm. The United States Department of Agriculture confirmed a case on Wednesday in a calf in Zavala County in South Texas.
"Now it's crossed the border, and so now you kind of think, when's it going to hit here? I will tell you there will be more cases," Fulton said.
This is the first confirmed case of the New World screwworm in U.S. livestock since 1966.
"It's more aggressive. The larvae will attach to not just a wound but to good flesh, and it eats it," Fulton said.
Fulton is already taking precautions and sprays her 150 cattle with a fly-killing liquid.
"When it comes out and in their feces, when the flies lay their eggs there, basically that fly may hatch, but it won't live and it won't reproduce," Fulton said.
Fulton is cautiously optimistic that no screwworm cases will happen in North Texas, but if they do and it affects her cattle, it could hurt her bottom line.
"You'd need to get rid of the animal in some form, either euthanized or something like that," Fulton said.
That could potentially mean higher prices for her customers.
"It's supply and demand. If something happened and you had to get rid of, let's say, a 10th of your herd, that cuts down on your numbers and what you have available to sell in the marketplace," Fulton said.
A screwworm outbreak could cost Texas around $1.8 billion annually, with cattle producers alone facing almost $750 million in losses each year, according to the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
