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With tighter checks for flesh-eating screwworm, a border crossing reopens · Best of: Features

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  With tighter checks for flesh eating screwworm a border crossing reopens. Written
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  by Susan Montoya Bryan. This article is being read by an automated
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  voice generated by Everlet. With the all clear from U. S. Agriculture
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  inspectors, Mexican cattle began moving on Monday through a border crossing in
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  New Mexico that had been closed for nearly two years as both
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  nations worked to stop the flesh eating New World screwworm from spreading.
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  The screwworm, actually a fly larvae that burrows into the flesh of
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  livestock, pets, and even humans, has threatened the one hundred thirteen billion
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  dollars US cattle industry. Containment efforts have cost jobs and trade in
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  border communities, cutting off a source of cattle as the US struggles
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  to rebuild drought depleted herds. Reopening crossings could help ease that squeeze,
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  although experts caution that shoppers shouldn't expect quick relief on beef prices.
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  The port at Columbus, New Mexico is them third to resume Mexican
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  cattle imports under new safeguards, which include tests, shots, and inspections that
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  happen before an animal even gets close to the border. Officials and
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  ranchers in the Tue countries say layers of treatment and inspection give
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  the confidence that imported livestock won't carry screwworm through the ports, but
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  flies can buzz across the border on their own, meaning ranchers, hunters,
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  and pet owners should remain vigilant. The parasite was an annual livestock
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  scourge before being largely eradicated in the
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  U.S. In the nineteen sixties. It reappeared in Mexico in twenty twenty
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  four, and the first confirmed US case was in Texas in June.
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  More than sixty cases have been confirmed in Texas and New Mexico,
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  with infestations of cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and dogs. Last week, the
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  first case in U. S. Wildlife was confirmed after a hunter found
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  screwworm in an elk. Before the current outbreak, the US was importing
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  about one million head of cattle per year. It will take time
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  to get back to that number while keeping a sharp eye on
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  the risks to animal health, said Dudley Hoskins, under secretary for the
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  Department of Agriculture. As long as we can manage and mitigate that
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  risk at an acceptable level, we will continue to process the safe
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  and legal movement of cattle through these ports, he said, watching as
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  cattle lined up in the chutes at Columbus. New Mexico is key
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  for cattle imports. About a third of all Mexican cattle imported to
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  the US each year passed through Columbus and the Santa Teresa port
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  near El Paso, Texas. Gerardo Fierro, executive director of the New Mexico
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  border Authority, pegged the value of the cattle trade for the area
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  at one billion dollars. Fiero said
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  the community watched as jobs, cattle sales, and even tax revenue from
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  the diesel fuel used to transport the animals evaporated due to the
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  closures. Ranchers were no longer crossing into New Mexico and spending money
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  on supplies, lodging and food, and farmers had no customers for their
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  alfalfa and grain. This means a lot, he said of The
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  reopening. Another border crossing for cattle in Arizona is due to open
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  in late November. Layers of safeguards ensure cows are clean. New Mexico
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  State veterinarian Samantha Holeck
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  said the rigorous process for getting cattle ready starts at their home
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  ranches, where private veterinarians check for tuberculosis and other diseases and deliver
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  medications that prevent screw worm. At the next stop, veterinarians accredited by
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  the Mexican government look for open wounds, signs of illness or other
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  injuries. Then a head to tail inspection is done by the USDA
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  while still in Mexico. The last hurdle, dipping, as it's commonly known,
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  involves the cows being immersed in vats of insecticide to get rid
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  of any missed parasites. Flies have lots of ways to move around.
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  Hullock said the protocols developed over recent years helped to buy more
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  time and the USDA is using fly traps and drones to survey
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  areas. The government has a longstanding program to breed sterile male flies
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  and drop swarms of the from planes to mate with wild females,
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  causing the flies to die out. The government is building a six
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  hundred ten million dollar factory in Texas that can produce three hundred
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  million sterile flies per week. That will augment production at facilities in
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  Mexico and Panama. That's our sharpest tool, Hoskins said. Beef prices are
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  a bigger problem. Mexican ranchers once again have a market for their
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  feeder cattle, but experts say it will take time for US ranchers
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  to rebuild herds that have dwindled to record lows due to years
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  of persistent drought. Constrained supplies have pushed prices higher. Tom Patterson, president
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  of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, was among those who met
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  with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last week in Columbus. I agree
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  with the Secretary, he said, when she says that food security is
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  national security.