Researchers at Texas A&M University-Kingsville are thinking outside the box to help ranchers deal with a potential New World Screwworm outbreak — you could say they're thinking "outside the box," but within the perimeter of a virtual fence.
The team of scientists are experimenting with existing virtual fencing technology to develop a plan for cattle ranchers in the event that their herds become infected by the New World Screwworm (NWS) parasite.
The flesh-eating parasite has not been reported in Texas since 1982.
The project comes as Texas and the U.S. Department of Agriculture eye the movements of NWS south of the Texas-Mexico border in the state of Tamaulipas, as well as a Florida quarantine facility.
A local outbreak could devastate the state’s cattle industry, according to Dr. Robert Wells, professor of practice at TAMUK's King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management.
"We're just trying to be novel and innovative and use off-the-shelf technology that's out there, that’s available to any rancher right now," he said. "We don't know when or if the New World Screwworm fly gets here. We hope it never does, but if it does, we want to be ready to be able to have something that a producer can use."
If a cow were to be infected by NWS, the research would help ranchers mitigate the impact of the screwworm and larva on herds. Although a two-year project, Wells hopes to have a rough draft of a protocol for ranchers by this summer.
Here's how it works: over 160 cows are fitted with a special collar, which uses humane electrical pulses, sounds, and GPS tracking. A four-day training protocol teaches the cows to respond to the virtual fences. Wells explained this allows ranchers to schedule where they want cattle at a particular time, and saves them time and resources seeking out individual groups. If a cow doesn't show up, ranchers can look up their last known GPS location.
"Because if she doesn't show up," he said, "More than likely it's because she's not feeling good, and so he can go out and find her and hopefully save her life, or at least get her treated so that way she can maintain herself and continue to live.”
Last month, the USDA opened a U.S.-based sterile fly dispersal facility in Edinburg to help fend off NWS from reaching the border.
"This project won't stop the screwworm getting here," Wells said. "But pretty much nothing will until we can get a large enough production of the sterile flies. So until that happens, we've got to have ways that we can manage the ranch and manage the cattle and still stay in business, and that's what this project seems to do."
In 1976, an outbreak in Texas affected more than 1.4 million cattle and hundreds of thousands of sheep and goats. A USDA analysis suggests such an outbreak today would cost the state economy $1.8 billion.
Wells, a South Texas native who grew up during the 1970s outbreak, said another would dishearten ranchers who’ve already experienced it.
"Some of them are telling us that if it gets here, they're just going to sell out," he said. "They just don't have the manpower, they don't have the time or the ability to go out and check a herd every day. This [the research project] will allow them to hopefully be able to stay in the business."
