01/07/2025 USDA goes to work on Genocide for Screwworms

PLEASE REFER TO THE BROKER COMMENTARY PAGE FOR UPDATES!! In late November, a screwworm infestation was discovered in cattle in Southern Mexico which triggered an immediate succession in feeder cattle trade between the US and Mexico. When coming home on a flight from Washington DC late last year my wife and I were seated next to a USDA Veterinary. My wife always converses and she learned that this USDA Vet was on her way to Central America to get boots on the ground there with a plan to eradicate screwworms. The screwworm recently was discovered to have migrated to southern Mexico from Central America which caused US border control to close the US market to Mexican feeder cattle. The flies move slowly. They require a warm-blooded host and typically attaching to open wounds and can only move a couple miles after feeding to find another host. The USDA Vet said that the way to eradicate screwworms is to produce sterile males and introduce them to the swarm so that they cannot reproduce. They radiate millions of the male flies which sterilizes them and then release them into the female population to mate. She said that there were once 3 labs that produced…