Story by Oklahoma Pork's Matti Carlile

Recently, the Oklahoma Pork Council was given the opportunity to participate in a New World Screwworm (NWS) workshop hosted at Oklahoma State University (OSU). Matti Carlile represented our state's pork producers for this event and came away with several key learnings relevant to our industry.

The United States eradicated screwworm using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), which takes advantage of the fact that females only mate once. If they mate with sterile males, no viable offspring are produced. This program began in the 1950s, and by the mid-1970s screwworm was eliminated from the U.S., with the last reported case in Oklahoma in 1976. The effort required significant investment, about $32 million at the time, but returned substantial economic benefits to livestock producers.

More recently, a 2016 outbreak in the Florida Keys primarily affecting deer was successfully controlled by releasing roughly 180+ million sterile flies over several months. While eradicated domestically, the threat remains, as cases have been detected within roughly 70 miles of the Texas–Mexico border, emphasizing the need for continued awareness.

One great piece of advice for Oklahoma livestock producers was to schedule procedures like castration, dehorning, or branding during cooler months when fly activity is low, and monitor and treat any wounds promptly during warmer seasons.