* Lubbock Feeders on brink of closure in Texas after 70

years

* Feedlot relied on Mexican cattle for most of its supply

* First screwworm case detected in Texas despite border

closure

* Trade halt helps Mexico develop its beef sector,

producers say

By Tom Polansek and Cassandra Garrison

LUBBOCK, Texas/SALTILLO, Mexico, June 6 (Reuters) -

L ubbock Feeders has been fattening cattle in West Texas since

Dwight Eisenhower was U.S. president. Now, row upon row of pens

sit empty.

The 70-year-old feedlot in Lubbock, Texas, is on the brink of

closure after a halt to U.S. imports of Mexican livestock last

year dried up the supply that formerly accounted for most of the

cattle it raised, according to one of its owners.

The U.S. government closed the border to Mexican livestock a

year ago, hoping to keep out New World screwworm, a flesh-eating

pest that Mexican authorities have struggled to control. This

week, the first case of screwworm in 60 years was confirmed on a

Texas cattle ranch, representing a fresh challenge to the U.S.

beef industry, already hampered by scarce supplies, President

Donald Trump's trade policies and a pernicious drought.

It's a brighter story in Mexico's northern border state of

Coahuila, where farmers who used to send live cattle north are

now exporting beef to the United States. Rancher Enrique

García's pens were recently full of black cattle eagerly

awaiting an afternoon feeding. He has doubled his workforce,

including to fatten cattle and process beef, with aspirations to

sell his product to U.S. consumers.

In Texas, the nation's biggest cattle-producing state, closing

the border has forced the $100 billion U.S. beef industry to

contract. But in Mexico - where screwworm has infested nearly

28,000 animals - the beef industry has capitalized on the

setback to build up its own feedlots to keep cows longer and

prepare them for slaughter, as well as expand processing

facilities. Moving up the supply chain like this can be

profitable. In the first four months of 2026, Mexican beef

exports to the U.S. soared.

"If they end up feeding and processing them in Mexico, how

are we winning?" said Kyle Williams, manager and part owner of

Lubbock Feeders. "We're giving this to them on a silver platter,

the feeding industry. That's work, that's labor, that's people

that are not getting to do it here in the U.S."

U.S. CATTLE HERD SHRINKS

U.S. beef prices set record highs this year as domestic

cattle supplies dropped to a 75-year low because of the ban on

cattle imports from Mexico and drought conditions that fueled

wildfires across the Plains and drove American producers to

slash their herds.

The U.S. formerly imported more than a million cattle a year

from Mexico, representing about 4% to 5% of all cattle sold for

U.S. beef production, according to industry data.

The animals from Mexico were fattened at U.S. feedlots and

then sent to U.S. processing plants, supporting jobs along the

way, feeders said. The jobs included truckers who transported

livestock, farmers who raised crops to feed the animals, and

meatpacking workers who butchered cattle into steaks and

hamburger meat.

Now, those cattle are largely staying in Mexico to be raised

and slaughtered.

"They're building infrastructure in Mexico," Williams said.

"They're forced to figure it out."

The USDA could resume imports safely with cattle inspections

and treatments at ports of entry, he added. "Those protocols are

in place. There's been training on both sides of the border. Let

the cattle move."

The screwworm is a parasitic fly that can infest any

warm-blooded animal when the females lay eggs in wounds. It can

be treated, if caught early. During an epidemic in the 20th

century, the U.S. dropped trillions of sterile flies over

hotspots from a fly production plant in Texas that it is now

working to resurrect. The massive eradication effort ended the

epidemic, but it took the cattle industry 30 years to recover,

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said last year in

justifying the border closure with Mexico.

Suspending cattle movement can slow the spread of the pest,

Rollins said this week.

Lubbock Feeders stopped bringing in any cattle to its

feedyard months ago because high prices for the animals sourced

from U.S. ranches meant the business could lose more than $200

per head, Williams said. The feedlot has the capacity to house

up to 40,000 cattle but its headcount has dropped to about

4,000.

Bobby Swift, the feedlot's 57-year-old assistant manager,

now arrives at work later because there is little work to do.

One of his duties, checking on the cattle, takes just 22 minutes

because there are so few, he said.

"When you're as slow as we are, mentally it takes an effect

on you," said Swift, a 30-year employee whose father and

grandfather worked at Lubbock Feeders.

REBUILDING THE HERD IS SLOW

The rising cost of beef has become an affordability issue among

consumers ahead of U.S. midterm elections as they also grapple

with increased fuel costs. President Donald Trump has tried to

address it by urging cattle producers to lower prices, ordering

the Department of Justice to investigate meatpackers, and

allowing low-tariff imports from Argentina. But what would help

drive down prices more is a larger U.S. cattle herd.

U.S. meatpackers are waiting for American cattle producers

to expand their herds to boost beef output, a process that can

take two years.

Producers said Trump's push for larger low-tariff beef

imports from Argentina made it harder to convince them to

rebuild herds. The move upset ranchers but has failed to bring

down costs for consumers.

Producers also have been reluctant to increase production

because of risks from dry weather and uncertainty over future

profits.

In Tulia, Texas, 72 miles (116 km) north of Lubbock, farmer

Eddie Womack said he may cut his herd to 200 cows from about 600

cows unless rain arrives this summer to ease a severe drought

that left him without crops to use as feed. He bought feed at

higher costs instead.

"We go through another devastating year and we'll have to

say, 'We're gone. We've got to sell,'" said Womack, 63.

MEXICAN PRODUCERS PROFIT

García is one of many beef producers expanding in Mexico.

He began fattening cattle on a small scale four years ago to

diversify his business after previously exporting about 900 head

annually to Kansas. The U.S. border closure accelerated his

shift and helped boost his income by 8% to 10%, García said.

With screwworm now present in the U.S., the border is

unlikely to reopen soon, which García said this week was

encouraging him to build out his beef production business.

"In the end, we are going to get to the United States just

the same, but now with meat," he said.

Mexico's exports to the U.S. surged by 23% in the first four

months of 2026, according to Mexico's main meat producers

council, which aims to double shipments next year.

Coahuila, one of Mexico's main beef-exporting states, is

pushing to expand federally and U.S.-certified slaughter and

packing capacity to support exports with help from the Mexican

government, said Isaias Montemayor, the state's deputy minister

of livestock and rural infrastructure.

"The passing of the months has taught us that if these

producers add value," Montemayor said, "they can obtain a profit

equal to or even greater than what they would get if they

exported live calves."

Rollins said that suspending imports of Mexican cattle

successfully delayed screwworm's incursion into the U.S. and

that ports of entry would remain shut to Mexican cattle until

further notice.

The White House referred questions to the USDA, which said

in a statement: "Efforts at the federal, state, and local levels

have been focused on containing the pest and implementing

protocols."

Rogelio Perez of Mexico's National Confederation of

Livestock Organizations said the border closure had forced

Mexico's industry to adjust, and ended up strengthening it. "The

profit from producing meat now stays in Mexico with a consequent

impact on the American industry," he said.

MEATPACKERS UNDER PRESSURE

The border closure has pressured U.S. meatpackers, in

addition to some cattle feeders, by exacerbating already tight

domestic supplies. Processors such as Tyson Foods ( TSN ) have

reported steep losses in U.S. beef businesses as costs for

cattle outpaced gains in beef prices.

U.S. meatpacking executives said they need more cattle to

operate plants efficiently and that resuming imports from Mexico

would have the biggest impact on supplies over the next 12 to 18

months.

Tyson Foods ( TSN ) slashed operations this year at a beef plant in

Amarillo, Texas, about 120 miles (193 km) north of Lubbock, and

permanently shut a massive beef plant in Nebraska. The company

said it made the cutbacks, which eliminated jobs for thousands

of workers, to be more competitive.

Rivals JBS and Cargill have faced rare labor disputes at U.S.

beef plants, pushing back against workers' demands for higher

pay.

Darin Parker, president of global meat distributor PMI

Foods, said USDA should reopen the border.

"It's quintessential Americana to be in the beef industry,"

Parker said. "We need to really protect this industry."