The United States Department of Agriculture said the last time screwworms got into Texas, it cost Texas $283 to $375 million in the 1970s.
Adjusted for inflation, that would be $733 million lost by ranchers every year and a total of $1.8 billion by the time the pests could be wiped out.
The agency cautioned that direct comparisons are difficult because livestock inventories, veterinary practices and response capabilities have changed significantly over the last five decades.
Texas’s cattle inventory now exceeds 12 million head, compared with about 7.2 million during the 1976 outbreak, while sheep and goat inventories have declined substantially.
