US Reopening Phased Mexican Cattle Imports After Screwworm Closure

Jul 04, 2025

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Karl Plume reported that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Monday a phased reopening of cattle, bison and equine imports from Mexico following a prolonged closure over the damaging pest New World screwworm.”

“Ports will reopen in phases as early as July 7, beginning with Douglas, Arizona, which the USDA said is the lowest risk entry point due to its location and the ‘long history of effective collaboration’ between officials in Sonora and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service,” Plume reported. “The southern U.S. border was closed to imports of the animals on May 11 after screwworm, a species of fly that has been eradicated in the U.S. for decades, had been moving northward in Mexico. Additional ports in New Mexico and Texas may be reopened in coming weeks.”

“The pest can infest livestock and wildlife and carry maggots that burrow into the skin of living animals, causing serious and often fatal damage,” Plume reported. “As part of the country’s effort to fight screwworm encroachment, the USDA announced plans on June 18 to open a sterile fly dispersal facility in Texas, and invested $21 million in updating a plant in Mexico to produce sterile flies.”

Source : illinois.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.