A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The largest international livestock crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border is open again. It closed last May after cases of the New World screwworm were detected in Mexico. Now, the reopening on Thursday is part of a phased-in effort to put new safeguards in place. The hope is the additional cattle will help lower beef prices. With member station KTEP, here's Angela Kocherga.
ANGELA KOCHERGA, BYLINE: Under a bright, blue sky filled with fluffy, white clouds, a small crowd gathered at the Santa Teresa Livestock Crossing in New Mexico. All eyes were on the open gate and the towering border fence.
(CHEERING)
KOCHERGA: Then, the moment they had been waiting more than a year for - cowboys herded cattle from Mexico to the U.S. side and into corrals.
DANIEL MANZANARES: How do I feel? Ecstatic is the word. Been a long dry spell.
KOCHERGA: Daniel Manzanares is director of the Santa Teresa International Livestock Crossing, which is near the state line with Texas and borders Chihuahua.
MANZANARES: I think we're off to a really good start with the cooperation and partnership of both countries.
KOCHERGA: About 400 head of cattle crossed on the first day of the reopening. The goal is to grow that number to the 3,000 a day that used to enter the U.S. here. Among those at the reopening was Dudley Hoskins, undersecretary of regulatory programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
DUDLEY HOSKINS: We have the highest confidence that animals moving through these protocols, these ports of entry, when done correctly, legally and safely, are clean, healthy animals, and we're excited about reconstituting the movement.
KOCHERGA: New protocols include an additional inspection for the flesh-eating New World screwworm. U.S. inspectors have long been present on the Mexican side, checking the health of animals before they're allowed to cross the border. That's on top of Mexico's inspectors. And there are some new helpers on site, says Hoskins.
HOSKINS: The dogs play a critical role for us in the screwworm protocol.
KOCHERGA: New specially trained dogs can detect screwworms present on cattle before they cross the border. Four are doing the job now with more in training. Another line of defense, sterile flies released along the border to prevent screwworms from reproducing. A new sterile fly facility is under construction in south Texas.
(SOUNDBITE OF CATTLE WALKING)
KOCHERGA: The livestock crossing is owned and operated by the Chihuahua Cattlemen's Association. Ranchers big and small depend on it. Chihuahua is the top exporter of live cattle and has been supplying cattle to the U.S. for more than 100 years, says Alvaro Bustillos, president of the association. He says every dollar earned raising cattle in Mexico is multiplied in the U.S.
ALVARO BUSTILLOS: I think there's five more on the table in the U.S. side, and this creates industry jobs.
KOCHERGA: With billions in cross-border trade at stake, cattle dealers like Alan Sanchez (ph) say clients in Texas are eager to see the livestock crossing open again.
ALAN SANCHEZ: A lot of feed yards, especially in the panhandle, rely a lot on Mexican cattle to be able to fill up their feed yards.
KOCHERGA: With the U.S. supply of cattle at a record low, beef prices at grocery stores on average are 9% higher than last year.
(SOUNDBITE OF METAL BANGING)
KOCHERGA: Reopening of the border should help. But nobody here was willing to predict when the cost will go down.
For NPR news, I'm Angela Kocherga at the Santa Teresa International Livestock Crossing.
(SOUNDBITE OF METAL BANGING) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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