KERRVILLE, Texas – The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) recently opened a state-of-the-art laboratory facility to provide the U.S. cattle industry with innovative tools and advanced technologies to manage and eliminate invasive fly and tick pests that threaten the industry, officials said.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the USDA’s new Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, “will allow us to research and find new active measures to keep current and future threats away from our borders.

“We have taken extraordinary actions to keep New World Screwworm (NWS) out of the United States and this lab will help us accelerate our offensive efforts to drive this pest further away from our borders,” she added.

Officials said the new 52,000 square foot laboratory features cutting edge laboratory spaces, advanced cattle facilities, and a state of the art genomics core to drive research that delivers innovative control technologies for the U.S. livestock industry.

Other on-site research opportunities will involve improved surveillance and trapping tools, novel insecticides and acaricides (specialized pesticides), enhanced pesticide delivery techniques for cattle and wildlife, sustainable treatments to prevent and mitigate outbreaks of invasive/quarantine arthropod (invertebrates) species, improved approaches to combat pesticide resistance, and insect genomics to identify pest vulnerabilities, officials added.

The facility also houses two ARS research units: the Livestock Arthropod Pest Research Unit and the Veterinary Pest Genetics Research Unit. Collectively, these units improve the health, sustainability and profitability of U.S. livestock production and protect the U.S food supply from devastating arthropod pests, including biting flies, ticks and the NWS.

On-site research also plays a role in critical research to eradicate other ticks and blood feeding flies that can harm, infect and kill cattle, officials said.

The laboratory is named after two USDA researchers, Drs. Edward F. Knipling and Raymond C. Bushland. In 1937, Knipling first developed the theory that screwworms could be controlled using the sterile insect technique (SIT), officials said.

Grant Dewell, Iowa State University associate professor of veterinary medicine and beef extension veterinarian, told Farm World, “We are seeing an increase in external parasite issues, especially with ticks across the U.S., so this priority of a USDA (ARS) research facility should help provide important research.

“We really haven’t had any new treatment or prevention programs for decades, so new research is definitely needed,” he said. “Obviously, they will focus on screwworm and probably the cattle fever tick as those are threats that need to be addressed.”

He added that the introduction of Asian longhorned tick that has been moving across the U.S. highlighted the need for active research in this area: “To date, there has been little research in this area so increased attention in general will be beneficial. There will definitely be some crossover from one tick species to others.”

He said the risk of NWS becoming endemic in the northern Midwest is very low; however, the economic impact would be felt. “Short term, there may be an increase in prices, but long-term impact on feedlot capacity. However, overall, the crossover to other external parasites will be advantageous. Improving control of Texas cattle fever tick can help us control ticks in the Midwest.

“Transmission of blood diseases such as Anaplasmosis or Theileria by ticks is an issue in the Midwest,” he added. “New control methods are needed, which should be transferable, but in general, increased research in this area is going to be beneficial.”

Andrew P. Griffith, University of Tennessee professor of agricultural and resource economics, has had his own cattle operation since 2017. Currently, he has 550 to 600 head of cattle, which is a mix of mature cows, heifer development and stocker cattle.

He told Farm World it is good for livestock industries that these resources are being utilized for their benefit. “If history is any indicator of the future, then the work being done at this facility should only be helpful to livestock production in the United States and other regions.

“I doubt anyone could provide a good explanation of how much benefit this facility will be from a futuristic perspective,” he said. “They will all have to lean on historical results, and the sterile fly method is one of those.”

He said how much of a threat these kinds of pests are to cattle in the Midwest – especially in the light of NWS – really depends on the pest.

“Some pests can only survive in certain conditions,” he said. “For instance, most flies considered pests to livestock do not tend to be a problem in cold regions. Thus, regions with longer winter type temperatures have lower risk from flies. Thus, the Midwest will be influenced accordingly. It never hurts to be in the middle of the pack when the threat is at the front line.”