STURGIS, S.D. – It was a tense 24 hours yesterday (May 27) in the cattle trade as a report on a website – that has since been scrubbed – claimed that a case of New World Screwworm had been identified in a Missouri cattle herd.
The online report sent the market tumbling and prompted an almost immediate response from USDA.
Since last March, with the announcement of the flesh-eating parasite having infested cattle in some regions of Mexico, the U.S. has responded with bans of Mexican cattle and other livestock to the U.S. and an aggressive approach to testing on both sides of the border.
RFD-TV reported that a Market Day Report guest Brian Splitt told Market Specialist Tony St. James about the news on the website and how quickly the markets responded.
“It was posted that there was a screw worm that was found in Missouri, and the market sold off tremendously,” said Splitt. “We saw that by the values on the board and how low they went. And then that site scrubbed it and took it off of the website and the market started to recover right after that.”
Moments later, USDA released a statement to RFD-TV saying the reports were false.
In the statement, the USDA spokesperson noted, “Reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed the detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in the United States are not true.
“USDA is working with international partners to prevent NWS incursion into the United States. USDA has suspended imports of live cattle, horses, and bison through southern border ports of entry to prevent further spread of the parasite.
“Should USDA detect NWS in the United States, we will rapidly respond in coordination with state partners to eliminate it. We will also share information with all stakeholders.”
