Cattle from Mexico – Good or Bad?
by Dennis Sun
Since the Spanish first brought cattle into the New World, they have been crossing the border between Mexico and the U.S. For the most part, this has been a thriving business.
Once Mexico and the U.S. started patrolling the border, some restraints were implemented.
If a person stole horses or cattle, they were usually safe once they got to the other side.
About 10 years ago, along the South Texas border, the cartels bought most of the lands along the Rio Grande River for drug purposes, and Mexican cattle crossed over wherever there wasn’t a border wall on the U.S. side.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) had a whole army of wranglers, corrals and dipping vats to treat animals for potential diseases and pests before they were herded back to Mexico.
Nowadays, with the threat of New World screwworm (NWS), APHIS has shut down the border to any livestock crossings. But there has been talk about opening the border in Douglas, Ariz., where NWS has been confirmed over 800 miles away.
It’s really too bad NWS has made a comeback and hurt the cattle industry on both sides of the border.
On the U.S. side, it has hurt feedlots and meatpackers, and on the Mexican side, it has hurt cattle producers, as they could receive about double the money for a 450-pound steer by crossing the border.
Before NWS resurfaced, Mexican cattle imports averaged around 1.8 million head annually, which equaled 3.4 percent of the total U.S. calf crop from 2015-24.
On March 28, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins spoke on border crossings to the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and was somewhat positive the border may be opening soon. But when NWS was found 90 miles from the South Texas border, everything came to a halt.
Cattle producers were really hoping to have cattle crossing at least on the Arizona border, but I’m not sure any cattle crossings are going to happen for a while.
When the border does open back up, Mexican cattle will be required to stay in a pre-export inspection facility for three to five days where they will receive an Ivermectin vaccination or similar shot.
All cattle will have to swim through a narrow 30-feet dipping vat to kill any other insects on them. Then they will be moved to a certified APHIS inspection facility where they will be physically inspected for wounds and the presence of NWS. There, USDA veterinarians will conduct a final physical inspection and review travel and ownership documents.
Cattle crossing the border is not an easy process, nor should it be. The threat of a NWS infestation would shut down many states moving cattle. We just can’t afford to have it.
