With its high temperatures and few winter freezes, Arizona is ripe territory for infestation from New World screwworm (NWS).
Ryan Wolker, state veterinarian with the Arizona Department of Agriculture, says he thinks the threat to his state from NWS is significant.
“It is definitely a concern,” he says. “The New World screwworm detections in Mexico have surpassed 3,000 premises and have come within approximately 370 miles south of the southernmost point of Texas, but obviously that can change quite rapidly, especially with the animal movement within the country of Mexico itself.”
Wolker has concerns about the impact NWS could have on Arizona’s already-stressed cattle ranchers.
“There was a limited outbreak of NWS in Texas in the 1970s, and USDA conducted a study of that economic impact in 2016,” he says. “Even without adjustment for increased inventories of animals since that time, because obviously, herd sizes are larger, feedlots are bigger, etc, the economic impact of that same outbreak in Texas now, only counting for inflation, would be looking at a cost to producers and lost revenue in the neighborhood around $1.4 billion.”
At a recent Trust In Beef Sustainable Ranchers Tour event in Willcox, Ariz., Wolker and the Arizona Livestock Incident Response Team (ALIRT) began an initiative to get ahead of the potential economic damage.
After gathering the team to practice on-the-ground incident response at YY Ranch, Wolker and Betsy Greene, extension specialist with the University of Arizona, unveiled the first of the state’s saddlebag scouting kits that are available to ranchers.
The kit includes:
- Specimen collection vials with tweezers.
- Specimen baggies with cotton balls for safe transport.
- Collection and mail instructions.
“The whole point is, we can get and find things faster,” Greene says. “If someone sees it, gets a sample, then we can deal with it.”
Greene and Wolker urge ranchers to begin scouting now in their herds, looking at open wounds for any signs of infestation. Hunters should scout not only their harvests but any carcass they encounter during hunts.
In addition to specimen collection, Wolker stresses the importance of gathering additional data as well.
“Take some pictures for documentation purposes,” he says. “If you’re proficient with Google Maps, drop a pin to grab those GPS coordinates for us.”
NWS scouting kits are available to ranchers through ALIRT. The team has issued a resource with additional scouting and specimen collection tips.
Additional resources can be found through your local Extension office, large animal or equine veterinarian or through the Arizona Department of Agriculture Animal Services Division.
AgriTalk Host Chip Flory recently visited with Wolker about NWS. You can hear the complete discussion here:
Visit trustinbeef.com for information about upcoming stops on the 2025 Sustainable Ranchers Tour and make your plans to attend.
Your next read: Stay up-to-date on NWS with Drovers coverage.
