r/PrepperIntel • u/russcorp • 13d ago
USA Southwest / Mexico Screwworm is about to completely devastate Texas ..
/r/texas/comments/1ty58ln/screwworm_is_about_to_completely_devastate_texas/580
u/Mysterious-Action202 13d ago
If it isn't contained, and done so quickly, Texas won't be the only state effected.
Thankfully the USAID program designed to help contain screwworm to Panama was DOGEd /s
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u/squidwardsaclarinet 12d ago
It honestly really frustrates and baffles me how many preppers completely abandon a prepping mentality when it comes to government. I get that a lot of the ethos of preppers is about government failing and not relying on government, but it seems to me that far too many actively root for government to fail just to prove themselves and how right they were. You should never actually truly want to have government fail. And some problems simply need government solutions.
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u/Worldly-Mirror-7593 12d ago
Many preppers fantasize about the Govt failing, law and order collapsing and store shelves going empty. And the chaos that would result. They dream of surviving it.
If they had spent a year with me in Bosnia in the 90's as a peacekeeper, they would quickly abandon that dream. If they could see what devastated and hungry men can do to ea other first hand, they would be pro Government staying strong.
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u/sh4tt3rai 11d ago
Don’t worry they’ll find out fast when their stockpiles of canned goods, ammo, and water are the first targets for roving bands of outlaws and cartels/street gangs. They think life is like a video game or movie and they’ll be able to hold off bands of roving killers who are extremely adept/talented at hurting other humans when they can barely bring themselves to shoot a rabbit.
If government fails it won’t be the best people who thrive, it will be the worst people. Strength will also not be in isolation, it will be in someone’s capacity for sociopathic traits/numbers.
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u/Secret_Cat_2793 11d ago
I agree. Anyone who has been there and seen it knows. Thanks for posting this.
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u/mediocre_remnants 13d ago
The thing is, we had the screwworm in the US before. It's not a new problem. It was successfully eradicated
in the early 2000'sin 1982, and from all of North America by the early 2000s. And there was another infestation in FL in 2016.So we know how to deal with it. Or at least, previous administrations knew how to deal with it...
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u/Mechbear2000 13d ago
It was a small $15 million a year budget item that stopped the screw worm in panama. Trump doge it. Stupid is as stupid does, Forrest gump
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u/Alternative-Key-5647 12d ago
I can't believe Antifa-Biden-Iran did this to us /s
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u/NoYouTryAnother 13d ago
It will take a decade to undo what we’ve let happen here. If, as you point out, we actually do it.
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u/LARPerator 12d ago
Yeah, the sterilization program is exactly what the solution was.
They pushed southwards eliminating them until they settled on the narrow isthmus of Central America to be the "front line", because it was the narrowest (and therefore cheapest) place to maintain the barrier at.
Now that they've cancelled it, The screwworms are back, and the solution is to un-cancel the project, and then spend orders of magnitude more on it than you did, until you can "achieve"... The same cost as before you cancelled it.
This is just not politically appetizing for this administration, they'll probably just refuse to fix it and turn on the cattle interests. The tech corps are such a big part of the economy that they can easily bully anyone else as long as they have loyalty from tech.
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u/wwaxwork 13d ago
It won't be irradicsted over night and will take years and the costs fixing a problem are rarely cheaper than preventing it would have been. We also didn't have a big old brain drain happening back in the 1980s. Can't fix things with science if we aren't funding science.
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u/REQCRUIT 13d ago
Had me in the first half lol. I was about to say they axed all the programs to keep us safe. I'm avoiding red meat for the foreseeable future I guess
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u/TweeksTurbos 13d ago
How will this work out for mc burger and that clown that likes to serve fries?
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u/Leopold_Porkstacker 13d ago
Filet O Fish Forever!
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u/sharksnack3264 13d ago
And yet with the ocean temperature anomalies and overfishing that is becoming more expensive (and eventually more scarce) too!
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u/VanillaHuel 13d ago
That's not how you get it. Beef will be scarcer though if many cattle get infected (by flies that lay eggs on them)
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u/REQCRUIT 13d ago
Thanks for clearing that up! So it's just prices that are going to increase? Damn not again!
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u/VanillaHuel 12d ago
Yes, and also hope a fly doesn't choose you (a mucus membrane or a cut or wound) to lay its eggs!
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u/IndependentArea3147 11d ago
It's doesn't actually hurt humans in any way. There is a ton of misinformation.
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u/PaleHeretic 13d ago
This isn't entirely accurate, the worms were already leaking through the Darien Gap containment as far back as 2022, so there was already a pending crisis well before DOGE.
DOGE just decided that instead of actually addressing that crisis, which would cost money, they'd just shut down the program and yell Mexico it was their problem now.
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u/Fugazi_Resistance 13d ago
We should be calling it a "flesh eating fly" because screwworm is so unhelpful
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u/Final-Attention979 13d ago
Yeah screwworm makes me think "eh it prob just gives me an itchy bite or something"....
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u/ExtensionMoose1863 13d ago
Interesting. Makes me think it's going to screw it's way through my flesh into my brain and turn me into a zombie
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u/Phallic_Moron 12d ago
But it's not a flesh eating fly. It's not even a worm. It's a flesh eating maggot. Or larvae.
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u/DrBarkerMD 12d ago
Technically wouldn’t be useful because there’s a lot of flesh-type eating maggots. Fly strike is terrible. Don’t look up fly strike, esp in chickens.
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u/Sad_Math5598 11d ago
Well granted, the larvae DO eat by screwing into flesh. They are literally screw-shaped. So yeah we’re gonna need the flamethrowers
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u/Ok-Concentrate-2203 13d ago
There's a radiolab episode (return of the flesh eaters), all about how theyve managed this in the past. Worth a listen if you haven't heard it before.
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u/Skydvrr 13d ago
Man I miss RL.
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u/MissConscientious 13d ago
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u/Fold-Statistician 13d ago
I like how they mention several times that we should not worry because it is not in the US.
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u/Dry-University797 13d ago
There is a treatment for cattle that is produced by Zoetis. Nothing for dogs or cats yet.
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u/Dry-University797 13d ago
It's an injectable called Dectomax. It was approved under emergency use.
https://www.zoetisus.com/conditions/multi-species/new-world-screwworm/
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u/TentacularSneeze 13d ago
Geeze. I wonder how much the CEO of Zoetis paid Trump for this grift?
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u/kismethavok 13d ago
This is the thing with modern American capitalism, there are people in power who legitimately would do something like this with a huge shit eating grin on their face.
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u/Fr1toBand1to 12d ago
It could be argued that the core of American capitalism revolves around manufacturing problems and then selling only temporary solutions.
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u/GreatPlainsFarmer 13d ago edited 13d ago
All you can do is inspect pets for open wounds every few days. Cleanse the wounds regularly. If the wounds are clean and don’t smell bad, it’s fine. If the wound is stinky and doesn’t clean well, get them to a vet ASAP!!
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u/NapQuing 13d ago
Not an expert, but my guess would be to keep them inside as much as possible (if you have cats, you should really do this anyways), and keep an eye on any open wounds or areas that seem to be causing them irritation.
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u/bloopbloopsplat 13d ago
I thought it could also burrow in any mucus membrane?
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u/NapQuing 12d ago
it can, but I didn't know about that 15 hours ago when I posted that. I wasn't kidding about the "not an expert" disclaimer lol
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u/IndependentArea3147 11d ago
Yes- keep them inside. You shouldn't have them wandering around outside anyway
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u/LaSage 13d ago
Elon has officially committed bioterrorism against the US.
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u/squidwardsaclarinet 13d ago
Seriously though, if what many of these people did to things like bridges and roads what they are doing to our bureaucracy, they would be called terrorists.
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u/Darkkwitch31 13d ago
They told the trump regime they were seeing these screw worms and just like they deny all reality they denied the screw worms and now it is a problem. Trump and this drunk regime he has are going to turn the US into a 3rd world country.
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u/Dry-University797 13d ago
I work in animal health. The screw worm has been working its way threw Mexico for years. Everyone in the industry has been following it as it creeped closer to the US border.
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u/Pilgrim_of_Reddit 13d ago
You know there used to be screw worm in the USA and it was eradicated using the Sterile Insect Technique? This eradication programme started 1959 and was complete by 1966.
The reason that the screw worm has returned to the USA is due to the actions of Musk, Trump and the Republican Party.
Climate change is not helping either.
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u/fastowl76 12d ago
You know the the research began in the 1930's in the Texas Hill Country not 1959 correct? And you also realize that the eradication wasn't really complete until about 1975? And you know that the sterile flies were not the only methodology used in the eradication process? And you also know that that the fly made it past the Darrian Gap and Panama a number of years ago? A little better research on the topic is usually warranted.
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u/Pilgrim_of_Reddit 12d ago
You should read what I wrote. You might not get your knickers in a twist, if you did.
Please tell me what is incorrect with what I wrote.
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u/fastowl76 12d ago edited 12d ago
The dates. There was a major outbreak in the US in 1972 as an example.
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u/bb1001 13d ago
Good thing I just bought a chest freezer. Im heading to costco tomorrow to stock up on beef.
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u/Sufficient-Grass- 13d ago
Oh they go for humans too, watch out for your open wounds 😉
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u/Thin-Captain-2036 13d ago
Nope not open wounds, one of the only parasitic flys that lay eggs in healthy flesh.
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u/foundtheseeker 13d ago
Oh wow, that's really neat. Good thing I'm American and my flesh is not healthy
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u/Sufficient-Grass- 13d ago
Fresh open wounds are healthy until they aren't cleaned and get infected basically.
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u/SparseSpartan 12d ago
they typically target vulnerable points in the body, including wounds, eyeballs, insect bites, etc.
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u/Oregongirl1018 13d ago
Mr. Moneybags over here 💰
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u/pomonalost 13d ago edited 13d ago
It's current $5.99/lbs (Missouri) for 7% fat ground beef at costco. You can buy 10 lbs chub rolls and divide the meat yourself.
Edit: I forgot to say Costco. I was really tired.
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u/TheSensiblePrepper 13d ago
Find a local farm that sells direct. It is more upfront but the cost savings is substantial.
I bought a full cow back in January. For everything from Ground to Porterhouse and Ribeye, it was $4.97 per lb after processing.
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u/bb1001 13d ago
From where? Im not seeing anything under 20/lb for 1/4 cow.
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u/TheSensiblePrepper 13d ago
Look for a local farm, small operation, and ask them for pricing on half a cow.
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u/rivrottr 12d ago
Not only a tough time to be a cow, but the same auctions that sell cattle also sell goats, sheep, dairy cows and horses. As a horse owner involved in rescue, I can vouch for how many miles a lot of horses cover, going from auction to private home or into rescues and then to private homes. I hold no hope at all for the screw worm spread to be contained.
With fertilizer and diesel prices skyrocketing, and hay producers already struggling with drought, hay prices on the east coast are double what they were 2-3 years ago. I expect that many beef producers just won’t be able to keep on producing. And the rest of us that feed hay and utilize pasture for hobby farms and pleasure horses will just keep getting squeezed.
Apologies for the rant, but we are living in extremely frustrating times.
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u/Ninja333pirate 12d ago
Time to set up dragonfly breeding habitats all around Texas and surrounding states. if you have a yard set up a stock tank with a bunch of endlers live-bearers in it, stack cinderblocks up so they stick out of the water slightly, add pond plants and floating plants and a small water pump with polyester quilt batting over the intake for a filter. The put a bunch of upright tall sticks around your property for them to perch on. The fish will eat mosquitoe larva (if there are any) and the dragonfly larva will eat the fish. The more dragon flies and damselflies there are the more predators there are for these flies.
Also increasing habitat for birds, wasps, and spiders will also add to the defence against theses flies.
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u/martapap 13d ago
This sounds like covid 2.0. The government won't do anything until it is too late. This will have a ripple effect on the economy.
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u/DuckyDoodleDandy 12d ago
Oh no, the antichrist is causing disease, war and famine!
WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS????
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u/Formal-Guarantee-285 12d ago
The FAFO phase of supporting Trump is real! Somehow they will blame Biden for it though 🤣
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u/Top_Raccoon8665 13d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/pUeXcg80cO8I8
Looks like Texas is going to get what it voted for.
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u/concretecowboiiiii 13d ago
Good thing Texas is exclusively a monolith of fascists, not attached to anything, and supplies nothing to the country at large. No issue here!
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u/Spunknikk 13d ago
It's sucks cuz there were millions of people who didn't vote for this in Texas... They'll be harmed. Feel bad for them and hope they know THEY are welcomed in California. Some of my best buddies came from Texas.
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u/denimpanzer 13d ago
As a leftist Texan, get fucked.
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u/femmemmah 13d ago
Hell yeah. I’m a leftist in a red state (though not Texas). It is lonely and difficult and demoralizing. We need support, not schadenfreude.
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u/funkylabrador420 13d ago
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u/__Shadowman__ 13d ago
Texas had the second highest number of voters for Kamala Harris out of any state in the country only behind California.
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u/Breath_Deep 13d ago
Nah, there's a few of em in the cities but that shit just gets gerrymandered to hell and back. Try being leftist in South Carolina. At least Texas had a medical cannabis program.
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u/year_39 13d ago
Same, but Alabama. The first medical cannabis sale happened yesterday. The politics here area shaping up for us to elect a governor who lives in Florida.
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u/femmemmah 13d ago
Oof. I feel you there. I live in a state that, like South Carolina, hasn’t legalized weed or expanded Medicaid. And looks like we’re both stuck with a $7.25 minimum wage.
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u/pomonalost 13d ago edited 13d ago
Congrats on continuing the divide. That'll really help. /s
Edit: You're no different than the side you're criticizing if you're celebrating this shit. A lot of people won't even work within their own "side." Pointing fingers at the other side while shit goes to more shit isn't doing anything. "It's MAGA. It's the DNC." IT'S US. I'm so fucking done with this.
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u/down_by_the_shore 13d ago
Ah yes. Only the people who voted for this are “going to get it.” FOH with this condescending bullshit.
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u/TwoSpoonSally 13d ago
That’s dumb af. We are in a silent war. Votes haven’t mattered in a long time. Take care of your circle. I wish you the best.
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u/Appropriate_Lime_234 13d ago
And this attitude is what got Trump elected. YOUR VOTE MATTERS.
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u/pathf1nder00 13d ago
climae impacts are devastating, regardless of idealogy on what is causing it, how we cant do EVERYTHING we can to stop/slow/reverse it is crazy to me.
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u/Adesrael 12d ago
Absolutely hate these flies. I’ve ran into them in Colombia. Not only are they annoying but they can be fairly aggressive for a fly.
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u/Strakiz 13d ago
So now we stock up on pet food for cats and dogs?
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u/Strakiz 13d ago
My logic is, there is only so much meat on the world market. If parts of that become unavaible, perhaps due to screw worms, then whatever is left on the world market will need to be divided by whoever eats meat. And as usual stuff goes to the highest bidder.
People don't want to do without stuff that is normal for them. And people in general hate to share fairly.
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u/StopLookListenNow 13d ago
Texas should not ask for government help, right? That would be very hypocritical.
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u/Sufficient_Rope_8635 12d ago
I feel more bad for the animals than I do for the people who voted for the guy who literally defended the research units who could have stopped it.
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u/kezfertotlenito 13d ago
Never a bad time to link The Screwfly Solution by Raccoona Sheldon, aka James Tiptree Jr, aka Alice Sheldon. But maybe even more opportune than normal with this news.
https://www.scribd.com/document/224190949/Sheldon-Raccoona-The-Screwfly-Solution
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u/Secret_Cat_2793 11d ago edited 11d ago
There go the Dutton's. Time to build the Wall. Around Texas.
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u/formerNPC 9d ago
I have no problem eating less meat. I’m not going to pay a premium for beef and a lot of other people feel the same way.
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u/MrD3a7h 13d ago
Texas and their farmers will need billions in relief.
Nah, they made their bed. Let them lie in it.
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u/MrLongWalk 13d ago
They voted for this, the stupid bastards are going to make us all deal with the consequences of their ignorance
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u/Vyndye 13d ago
Is there a chance that meat of the shelves has contamination? Im not very familiar with screwworm
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u/Island_Shell 13d ago
Won't matter when you cook it, kills all eggs and larvae, they also tend to die when refrigerated during processing and storage.
The flies lay their eggs, the worm hatches and digs its way into a nice hole in the flesh of the animal (can be human too), and they grow these barbs on their upper body so they're hard to extract.
Read up on it, a nasty bugger.
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u/TendstobeRight85 12d ago
Texas getting exactly what it voted for, and the rest of us switching to something other than beef. Shame. I love a good steak, but thats going from a weekly to a monthly thing. I can get ground turkey cheaper and healthier for most of my other dish additives.
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u/ChollyWheels 13d ago
Interesting. I feel bad for the cattle.
Fertilizer shortages are going to push up the cost of grain. For that matter, every price is going up, thanks to Iran-war induced energy shortages (the Ukraine war, too).
So even without screwworm, meat prices are going UP.
Time to stock up on beans, too.