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Hide yo livestock, hide yo pets cause they screwwormin' errybody out here (prepare to pay more for meat)

Featured Replies

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/21/texas-screwworm-cattle-industry-border/

Quote

The last time the U.S. saw an outbreak of this magnitude was in the 1950s. It took decades, billions of dollars and a significant international effort to beat the worms back. Farmers and ranchers worry the fly will disrupt the food supply in the U.S., another shock to the market following the avian flu that sent the price of eggs soaring.

And experts say the fly can attach themselves to humans and family pets as well.

Quote

Unlike a regular fly whose larvae stick to dead tissue, a screwworm fly prefers warm bodies.

They “land in a wound, lay their larvae while the animal is alive and the larvae will eat live flesh,” said Warren Cude, a Texas rancher and board member of the Texas Farm Bureau. “They're just eating a big hole in the animal until they kill it.”

Screwworms don’t affect the quality of the meat, but could devastate the available supply. What meat Texans find in supermarkets will be safe, but expensive.

"It's going to get to a point where we're not going to have enough cattle or people are not going to be able to afford to buy steaks or meat because it's going be a luxury,” Benitez said.

 

25 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Another step towards lab grown meat. Which is what we need anyway. 

If you haven’t seen Brandon Cronenbergs first movie “Anti-viral” give it a watch.

Dad talked about doctoring pigs and cattle for screwworms back in the early 50s on the ranch. Said a pig would slobber in another pig and a fly would almost immediately land in the slobber spot and start laying eggs. If the larva took hold dad would have to treat the spot twice a day to try to kill them. Cows were almost as bad and harder to round up to treat.

Reimagine Horseman, Pass By in a USA wherein the government doesn’t act to save uninfected herds. Actually, never mind. There’s no need.

20 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

Screw worms were a problem during the COVID pandemic and the Atlantic already did this panic porn back in 2020

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/flesh-eating-worms-disease-containment-america-panama/611026/

The Atlantic and Tribune articles are quite different.  The Atlantic piece is mostly an explainer, while noting that an outbreak seems to have occurred in Florida, thought to be from Cuban screwworms evading the COPEG barrier.

Now it seems the COPEG barrier has failed and is threatening Texas livestock.

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

The Atlantic and Tribune articles are quite different.  The Atlantic piece is mostly an explainer, while noting that an outbreak seems to have occurred in Florida, thought to be from Cuban screwworms evading the COPEG barrier.

Now it seems the COPEG barrier has failed and is threatening Texas livestock.

Yep

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/cattle/ticks/screwworm/outbreak-central-america

and this map is from March

new-world-screwworm-map.jpg

are these the same kind of worms that ate part of our HHS Secretary's brain?

10 hours ago, davidg said:

Dad talked about doctoring pigs and cattle for screwworms back in the early 50s on the ranch. Said a pig would slobber in another pig and a fly would almost immediately land in the slobber spot and start laying eggs. If the larva took hold dad would have to treat the spot twice a day to try to kill them. Cows were almost as bad and harder to round up to treat.

We still have the old dip-tank my g-father built for his livestock on our place.  

Back in the day they eradicated them with sterile flies that wouldn't produce eggs. They'd radiate the males, box them up, and air-drop them all over the state to release them.  This was in the 60's, and my dad would talk about finding the boxes.  If you wanted more flies, you'd dig a few out, send them off to the county, and wait.  

It was Dr. Edward F. Knipling (of Aggy lore) that helped with this.  Collapses the population.  Come on agroids, you're a damn Ag school - do something about this shit.

Will see if this confirms the high is in. Broke back sharply off all time highs on feeders last week. We were already very tight on supplies before this came about, and due to poor weather the cattle cycle was already very slow in expanding. Biggest bright spot might be heavier numbers of dairy cross stress as dairy expansion levels out to buy sometime along with better pig and chicken numbers into fall to offset beef prices. Will also see if we lose a packing plant with a lot of places already running short weeks, and the new plant tied to Wal-Mart opening up in North Platte, NE to absorb supplies. 

8 minutes ago, Royalfan5 said:

Will see if this confirms the high is in. Broke back sharply off all time highs on feeders last week. We were already very tight on supplies before this came about, and due to poor weather the cattle cycle was already very slow in expanding. Biggest bright spot might be heavier numbers of dairy cross stress as dairy expansion levels out to buy sometime along with better pig and chicken numbers into fall to offset beef prices. Will also see if we lose a packing plant with a lot of places already running short weeks, and the new plant tied to Wal-Mart opening up in North Platte, NE to absorb supplies. 

And it’s not fucking raining. 

9 minutes ago, Royalfan5 said:

Will see if this confirms the high is in. Broke back sharply off all time highs on feeders last week. We were already very tight on supplies before this came about, and due to poor weather the cattle cycle was already very slow in expanding. Biggest bright spot might be heavier numbers of dairy cross stress as dairy expansion levels out to buy sometime along with better pig and chicken numbers into fall to offset beef prices. Will also see if we lose a packing plant with a lot of places already running short weeks, and the new plant tied to Wal-Mart opening up in North Platte, NE to absorb supplies. 

The articles linked imply that this worm is just as happy fucking up pigs as cows. How about chicken? Should I spend $100 at costco this weekend on fucking meat?

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

The Atlantic and Tribune articles are quite different.  The Atlantic piece is mostly an explainer, while noting that an outbreak seems to have occurred in Florida, thought to be from Cuban screwworms evading the COPEG barrier.

Now it seems the COPEG barrier has failed and is threatening Texas livestock.

Lol if you think Incredulity is going to actually read any article.

1 minute ago, SydneyCarton said:

The articles linked imply that this worm is just as happy fucking up pigs as cows. How about chicken? Should I spend $100 at costco this weekend on fucking meat?

IF 2020 taught you nothing else, the answer to this question is ALWAYS "yes."

 

 

4 minutes ago, utee94 said:

IF 2020 taught you nothing else, the answer to this question is ALWAYS "yes."

 

 

I was just making my way through all the fucking shit I stocked up FROM covid...

Now that we're dealing with animals with a worm infestation, I wonder if we're gonna flip the script yet again and try to treat them with human medication for a totally different illness?  Maybe we should hit 'em with insulin or something.

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Now that we're dealing with animals with a worm infestation, I wonder if we're gonna flip the script yet again and try to treat them with human medication for a totally different illness?  Maybe we should hit 'em with insulin or something.

Insulin is fucking expensive when we let pharmaceutical companies set prices, at least. It's cheap everywhere else in the world...

I'm thinking thoughts and prayers. 

1 minute ago, South Austin said:

And when there was no livestock, we ate sand.

You ate what?

His parents were so poor, they couldn't afford the wich.

Edited by crash_davis

25 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

The articles linked imply that this worm is just as happy fucking up pigs as cows. How about chicken? Should I spend $100 at costco this weekend on fucking meat?

Horses too, but these other species are usually more confined than cattle, with the exception of feedlot animals. 

1 minute ago, Kennythetiger said:

Horses too, but these other species are usually more confined than cattle, with the exception of feedlot animals. 

It just occurred to me that the 10 cows we probably use to keep the ag exemption on my FIL's property is probably going to get fucked . 

11 hours ago, davidg said:

Dad talked about doctoring pigs and cattle for screwworms back in the early 50s on the ranch. Said a pig would slobber in another pig and a fly would almost immediately land in the slobber spot and start laying eggs. If the larva took hold dad would have to treat the spot twice a day to try to kill them. Cows were almost as bad and harder to round up to treat.

While staying at a family friend’s ranch in Oklahoma 70 yearsago, the owner rounded up a few of his cows for us to look at. 
One of the critters had a gory looking hole in it lower gut area filled with screwworms. 
The rancher figured the cow had scratched itself on some barbed wire, giving the insects a prime spot to lay eggs. 
It was really nasty looking. He called the local vet to come out to treat it, but I don’t recall the ultimate outcome for that particular bovine. 
None of the remaining herd of 200+ were infected - after being rounded up for a check.

11 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Now that we're dealing with animals with a worm infestation, I wonder if we're gonna flip the script yet again and try to treat them with human medication for a totally different illness?  Maybe we should hit 'em with insulin or something.

Horse paste will soon replace fluoride in all drinking water.

 

17 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

Horses too, but these other species are usually more confined than cattle, with the exception of feedlot animals. 

Deer are impacted as well.

14 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

I don’t recall the ultimate outcome for that particular bovine. 

image.gif.61670e4c859d86c0b65e264fc7ad60ab.gif

3 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Deer are impacted as well.

Yeah, I never thought about you all’s hunting and exotic operations down there. 

11 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

While staying at a family friend’s ranch in Oklahoma 70 yearsago, the owner rounded up a few of his cows for us to look at. 
One of the critters had a gory looking hole in it lower gut area filled with screwworms. 
The rancher figured the cow had scratched itself on some barbed wire, giving the insects a prime spot to lay eggs. 
It was really nasty looking. He called the local vet to come out to treat it, but I don’t recall the ultimate outcome for that particular bovine. 
None of the remaining herd of 200+ were infected - after being rounded up for a check.

Back in the day, lot's of ranchers used pine tar on open wounds like that.  Especially if it's not near the head/eyes/ears.  That's case by case basis treatment.  You have to extract the larva and treat the wound.  Same on livestock as humans.  

If it gets bad, they'll go back to fly-vasectomies and release a billion horny male flies to hump the ladies into extinction.  

2 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Back in the day, lot's of ranchers used pine tar on open wounds like that.  

Call George Brett if you need some. 

7 minutes ago, South Austin said:

image.gif.61670e4c859d86c0b65e264fc7ad60ab.gif

The most likely ending for that cow.

Quote

but I don’t recall the ultimate outcome for that particular bovine. 

image.thumb.jpeg.9e474f666057088eb17adbf28635ebb6.jpeg
 

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

The Atlantic and Tribune articles are quite different.  The Atlantic piece is mostly an explainer, while noting that an outbreak seems to have occurred in Florida, thought to be from Cuban screwworms evading the COPEG barrier.

Now it seems the COPEG barrier has failed and is threatening Texas livestock.

Go one step further.  Why did the COPEG barrier fail?

56 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

And it’s not fucking raining. 

We need to put some of the stuff that should be grass back to grass in Eastern Kansas, SE Nebraska etc, that got tore up for from crop production. I keep asking myself if I hate myself enough to put up a hoop barn, and do confinement cow-calf as a side project if we aren't going to do that. 

58 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

The articles linked imply that this worm is just as happy fucking up pigs as cows. How about chicken? Should I spend $100 at costco this weekend on fucking meat?

They'll be able to stay on top of that a lot better in buildings than range livestock. 

1 minute ago, Incredulity said:

Go one step further.  Why did the COPEG barrier fail?

Why don't you enlighten us?

Just now, Royalfan5 said:

They'll be able to stay on top of that a lot better in buildings than range livestock. 

Even with the shortage of illegal immigrants that now, I assume, have to go check chickens one by one to see if they're cut?

Just now, Royalfan5 said:

We need to put some of the stuff that should be grass back to grass in Eastern Kansas, SE Nebraska etc, that got tore up for from crop production. I keep asking myself if I hate myself enough to put up a hoop barn, and do confinement cow-calf as a side project if we aren't going to do that. 

I have geared a lot of my crop land acres away from cereal grain production and more towards beef production. For example I plant triticale in the fall now, instead of wheat. Milo has turned into my targeted cash crop now instead of wheat. 

Just now, SydneyCarton said:

Why don't you enlighten us?

It's in the article I allegedly didn't read.

But in 2020, cracks in that barrier began to show. Inspectors who, up until that point, prevented animals infected with screwworms from migrating into Central America, had to be quarantined because of COVID-19, Womack said.

 

stay at home orders and travel restrictions turbo fucked it.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

Go one step further.  Why did the COPEG barrier fail?

Because we trans'd the cattle

6 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

It's in the article I allegedly didn't read.

But in 2020, cracks in that barrier began to show. Inspectors who, up until that point, prevented animals infected with screwworms from migrating into Central America, had to be quarantined because of COVID-19, Womack said.

 

stay at home orders and travel restrictions turbo fucked it.

 

 

Ok, so Twicehorn said the two articles are different, and your immediate response, unprompted to anything he said, was to try and blame Covid.

Your post(s) on this thread were "This is all a big nothingburger" or equivalent, but now you're happy to blame Covid 19. I'm sure everyone here is SUPER surprised to see you take this opportunity. So who do you blame for all those travel restrictions and "bad" choices in 2020? 

40 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

It just occurred to me that the 10 cows we probably use to keep the ag exemption on my FIL's property is probably going to get fucked . 

Why, are the neighbors aggy?

Just now, atomheartbevo said:

Why, are the neighbors aggy?

I mean, almost certainly. Or aggie T-shirt fans, most likely. But I'm guessing you don't understand the significance of an Ag Exemption?

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