I don't think Sid Miller has been acting with the best interest of Texas. He is angry about Abbott's non endorsement. It seems Miller's scorched earth statements are more about political reasons than helping Texas.

His recommendation to not report is ignorant. And dangerous.

The government has never indicated it will shut down anyone's operation. If animals are healthy, commerce continues.

Again, a reported area will be a target for millions of sterile flies. Why wouldn't you want that?

Sid Miller needs to go yesterday.
Why say something so stupid?

I believe the pros of reporting are receiving sterile flies in an effort to minimize NWS. They have dispersed sterile flies in Zavala, La Salle, and Gillespie counties. Not sure if Edwards/Sutton has received any following yesterday's confirmed case.

I think there is confusion with the quarantine process. TAHC quarantines 20 km infested zones (12.5 miles) and established surveillance zones for an additional 20km. If your ranch is in the zone, your animal movement is restricted without receiving approval from TAHC to move. They aren't quarantining each individual ranch but zones.

TAHC has a map of all the zones on their website and it is updated with each new confirmed case. I just googled "TAHC screwworm" and it came up.

Not sure who pays.

drred4 said:

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What are the pros of reporting?

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Receiving sterile fly drops to protect one's investment.

If you Listen to Sid Miller on this you will likely kill your entire deer herd.

CorpsTerd04 said:

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If you Listen to Sid Miller on this you will likely kill your entire deer herd.

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Thisguy1 said:

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I was talking to a buddy of mine this morning who runs a cattle operation. He was saying he was listening to Sid Miller in the radio and he even said if his cows had it he wouldn't report it because of the headache that's about to come from it.

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Miller is the idiot that agreed with the idiot legislator that wanted to abolish tpwd over cwd regs.

One of the things that helped get him voted out of office.

Probably incapable of pouring piss out of a boot with instructions printed on the heel.

rab79 said:

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Thisguy1 said:

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I was talking to a buddy of mine this morning who runs a cattle operation. He was saying he was listening to Sid Miller in the radio and he even said if his cows had it he wouldn't report it because of the headache that's about to come from it.

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Miller is the idiot that agreed with the idiot legislator that wanted to abolish tpwd over cwd regs.

One of the things that helped get him voted out of office.

Probably incapable of pouring piss out of a boot with instructions printed on the heel.

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That was one of the biggest reasons why I voted against him. The other was that he is just generally an idiot who shoots his mouth off without thinking.

That guy is a clown.

From Southwest Livestock Exchange in Uvalde:

New World Screwworm Update-

We're going to try and simplify this…

Unless you are in the yellow zone, you can move livestock as you wish.

Visit https://tahc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/basic/index.html?appid=fc8902674b004a778f44e3fe219c255f for updated maps

If you are traveling with livestock from outside the yellow(infested zone), you may drive through without any paperwork. You will have to tell the checkpoints where you are coming from and where you are going. You can't not stop in an infested zone for more than a couple hours.

You may take livestock into a yellow zone without paperwork. But they will then be classified the same as the cattle in the yellow zone (infested area).

When you want to take livestock out of the yellow (infested zone)- you will need call Texas Animal Health for an inspection.

(737) 292-9983

They will perform a visual inspection. The cattle must then be tested with Dectomax injectable or Exholt Pour on. Also given an EID Tag. They will then give you a permit to move that livestock 72 hours later. You then have 48 hours after the 72 hours to move them. If you do not get that done, you will need a re inspection.

If you are sending cows or bulls to market or slaughter, they will perform a visual inspection and release them to those destinations. You will not be required to treat these animals. These animals typically are going to slaughter and there is no medication they can have that won't have a withdrawal to harvest.

If they do not sell to slaughter- the market will require an inspection by TAHC and a treatment given to them. They can then be released to their destination.

Horses- will need to inspected and sprayed by TAHC if leaving an infested zone. If you are going in and out (day working, going to rodeos, etc) they are relying a little more of an honor system. They are trusting you are watching your horses and inspecting regularly. Do not move any horses if there's any question, call TAHC to inspect them! Lots of vague variables on horses, there's not many treatment options at this time.

Remember, these are movement restrictions, NOT a quarantine! We can still move livestock and continue business, just need to follow a few protocols!

RCR06 said:

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So I have never been involved in raising cattle or livestock for that matter. I understand the basics of the screwworm outbreak. Also, I'm 42 and wasn't around for the 60's/70's outbreak. Couple questions.

I understand the eggs have to be laid on a live animal in some type of skin opening. Are calves/young animals most susceptible to this at birth? This is what I'm assuming based on reading this thread, but it's not really stated from what I can remember. Is this why the concern over white tailed deer?

There are several sterile fly breeding facilities between the U.S. and Panama that have been releasing sterile flies and the screwworms have continued to move North. Why hasn't this suppressed the spread? Should we be concerned this may not be as effective on the new world screwworm?

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1. Any open wound is susceptible for infestation so calves/fawns are especially susceptible because of exposed navel cords, but any scratch/cut is a potential entry point as is antlers in velvet.

2. The fly production has laxed over the years. In addition, Mexico is particularly hard to fight them in because of big country and less than scrupulous cattle movements.

RCR06 said:

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So I have never been involved in raising cattle or livestock for that matter. I understand the basics of the screwworm outbreak. Also, I'm 42 and wasn't around for the 60's/70's outbreak. Couple questions.

I understand the eggs have to be laid on a live animal in some type of skin opening. Are calves/young animals most susceptible to this at birth? This is what I'm assuming based on reading this thread, but it's not really stated from what I can remember. Is this why the concern over white tailed deer?

There are several sterile fly breeding facilities between the U.S. and Panama that have been releasing sterile flies and the screwworms have continued to move North. Why hasn't this suppressed the spread? Should we be concerned this may not be as effective on the new world screwworm?

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You are going to get several different answers for this. Some will blame USAID cuts, some will blame the cartels for creating no go zones, and some will blame a slow response by the government. Like any disaster it will never be just one thing, and is most likely a combination of a whole host of things.

We have known that the spread was happening since the last administration, so for those trying to point blame at the current one are just trying to gain points somewhere. I haven't seen it reported or mentioned anywhere that the sterile flies were not working, in fact everything seems to point to it being the best we can do right now. We just need billions more of them with no hope of it until 2027 when the Texas facility is brought on-line.

Sterile flies are the only effective way to end this. As others have said, we don't have the capacity to adequately fight this. Hopefully, this new facility will get us there.

Plenty of administrations, countries, organizations to point figures.

They release the sterile flies to create a high density barrier zone so that any females or local infected animals that move into the zone are statistically going to have all resulting females going to have a failed mating with a sterile male.

I someone moves an infected animal beyond this very high density zone by not wanting to comply with regulations, then there won't be enough steril males to suppress the growth of a new population from successful localized breeding. The flies will have broken through containment.

There has been a LOT of north South movement in the last few years through the barrier of people and animals and the enforcement gets lax when people forget experiences with the consequences.

The containment barrier in Panama wasn't a very large area to cover to high density.

The containment area now is basically gone, as the flies are near to their historic range limits. Beating them
Back will now require a massive increase in sterile fly deployment and infection mitigation and careful livestock inspection and movement controls and systematic extirpation from areas over time.