R-CALF USA

R-CALF USA Commends Secretary’s Action to Prevent New World Screwworm

Billings, Mont., May 12, 2025 – On Sunday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins closed the Mexican border to imports of live cattle, horses and bison to protect the U.S. livestock herd from the introduction of New World Screwworm, which has been advancing northward since the pest was first detected in southern Mexico in November.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) initially closed the border to such live animal imports in November following Mexico’s announcement of the detection of New World Screwworm in the southernmost region of Mexico. Imports were resumed by APHIS on February 1, 2025, under a screwworm mitigation protocol, but the pest was recently detected elsewhere in Mexico, reportedly within about 700 miles of the U.S. border.

R-CALF USA, the nation’s largest trade association exclusively representing independent cattle and sheep producers, has long advocated for strict prohibitions against the importation of live cattle from any country where pernicious livestock diseases or pests are known to exist.

The ranch group litigated against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s effort to prematurely reopen the Canadian border following multiple detections of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada’s native cow herd from 2004 through 2008. At the time, the USDA argued that normalizing trade was among the agency’s top priorities, and it was willing to accept a higher level of risk of disease introduction to accomplish that objective than was R-CALF USA.

Since that time, R-CALF USA has aggressively opposed the USDA’s actions of allowing the importation of fresh beef from countries not free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), such as Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. But the USDA remained steadfast in its efforts to facilitate imports from such affected countries and continues to do so today.

R-CALF USA says the current action by Secretary Rollins marks a welcome change to USDA’s priorities.

“It is clear that Secretary Rollins is willing to act decisively to protect the health of America’s cattle and sheep herds, as exemplified by her action taken yesterday in response to this New World Screwworm threat,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.

“We commend the secretary for her action, knowing it is necessary to prevent serious financial injury to our domestic livestock industries, and we pledge our support for her ongoing efforts to help Mexico eradicate this dangerous pest,” Bullard added.

Source: R-CALF USA press release