The Santa Teresa Livestock Port of Entry is scheduled to reopen Thursday, Sept. 24, following stringent containment protocols against the New World screwworm (NWS).
The reopening restores operations at the southern border’s highest-volume cattle crossing, which historically inspects 43% of all Mexican cattle imported into the U.S. Following more than a year of heightened biosecurity and strict containment of NWS, federal and New Mexico state officials are finalizing on-the-ground infrastructure to ensure cattle flow safely to the U.S.
“Livestock ports of entry on our southern border have played a very historic and critical role in the American cattle trade for more than 120 years,” says U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins during a press briefing in New Mexico following a roundtable with local livestock producers. “Imports from Mexico make their way to U.S. feedlots. In fact, most of the cattle who cross at this port make their way to Texas feedlots, eventually ending up on dinner tables across America.”
USDA PLANS TO REOPEN THE SANTA TERESA LIVESTOCK PORT ON SEPTEMBER 24. 🇺🇸🐂
— New World Screwworm Rapid Response (@Screwworm_RR) September 17, 2026
The announcement comes as USDA’s New World screwworm response continues to deliver results:
✅ 1 BILLION+ sterile flies released
✅ 100 MILLION sterile flies released each week
✅ $1.4… pic.twitter.com/iOaVy3V7wy
Strict Traceability and EID Infrastructure
A key focal point ahead of the Sept. 24 reopening is electronic identification (EID) traceability to satisfy the import requirements of receiving states across the country.
“The main thing is we’re trying to make sure that the American side of the port is up to speed on collecting the electronic IDs, so that we can meet the requirements of the receiving states,” explains New Mexico State Veterinarian Dr. Samantha Holeck. “With the acceptance of electronic ID as the official ID, that gives us a huge advantage on traceability of these cattle that we haven’t had in the past. That level of traceability is something that has never really been requested in the past to this degree, and so we’re working pretty intensively to get that infrastructure in place.”
Officials are installing high-speed panel readers to capture EID tags quickly, with a contingency plan ready if needed.
“We’re trying to get panel readers in place to facilitate rapid ID of these cattle,” Holeck notes. “We do have handheld readers that we can use. It just will require a little more labor and time. Certainly not ideal when we’re crossing larger numbers of cattle, but it is at least a reassurance that we can capture those IDs.”
New Mexico Livestock Board Executive Director Belinda Garland emphasizes state personnel are fully deployed to monitor compliance.
“We have certified law enforcement officers and brand inspectors that are in position to track all of these livestock movements and to help enforce anything that our state veterinarian needs to put in place,” Garland says. “We need to make sure that we have the proper equipment to track the livestock movement — every animal that goes on every truck that is being mandated by the other states.”
Expected Volume and Chute Capacity
Initial volume will start steadily before ramping up toward typical historical numbers:
- Day 1 Crossing: Approximately 1,000 head are expected to cross on opening day.
- Target Operating Capacity: Operations aim to scale to 1,500 to 1,600 head per day within a few weeks, with a historical single-day peak capacity near 3,000 head.
“I think we’ll be lucky if we make the 1,000 that they’re estimating [on day one],” Garland notes. “I think it’ll become more of a flow and a good process, and I think that’ll kind of take over and the numbers increase.”
While early trade estimates projected 200,000 to 250,000 head crossing before year-end, market analysts caution the actual pace will be much more measured.
“Santa Teresa is the biggest port, but it’s going to start slow as well, and it’ll take it a while to get up to speed,” says Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock market economist. “We don’t have that many weeks left before we get into the holidays. Between Douglas and Santa Teresa, we might get 100,000 to 125,000 head of cattle across by the end of the year.”
Don Close, Terrain senior animal protein analyst, agrees that total crossings may fall short of top-end estimates: “I would be prepared for that total number to be somewhat smaller than estimated instead of somewhat larger.”
Additionally, port infrastructure is prepared to handle heavier cattle that backed up during the border closure. While imported feeder calves traditionally weigh between 500 and 700 lb., prolonged holding in Mexico pushed some cattle to 900 to more than 1,000 lb.
“It has not been uncommon for larger cattle, 1,000-plus lb., to go through chutes there at Santa Teresa and San Jerónimo port, so they are anticipating that they can handle those cattle just fine,” Holeck says, predicting weights will gradually trend back toward normal averages.
NWS Containment and Multi-Layer Inspections
Southern livestock ports were closed in May 2025 after the looming threat of the NWS threatened to cross into the domestic herd. On July 24, federal and state agencies announced a coordinated, phased reopening plan contingent on Mexico’s adherence to joint biosecurity protocols.
The first crossing to reopen under the framework was the Douglas, Ariz., port three weeks ago. That pilot has processed more than 5,000 head of livestock without incident, paving the way for Santa Teresa.
USDA’s APHIS currently has 21 personnel stationed at Santa Teresa preparing for the resumption of trade. Before any cattle cross into the U.S., they undergo comprehensive pre-border checks in Chihuahua, Mexico, conducted by SENASICA and USDA inspectors.
After observing operations at the Douglas crossing firsthand, Holeck offers reassurance to domestic producers concerned about biosecurity: “After watching the whole process at Douglas, I certainly have got much greater reassurance of the cattle that are coming into the country. The whole process of the SENASICA inspection through to the USDA inspection, the treatments that are required... a lot of diligence in the inspections that are taking place before those cattle enter the United States. To me, it provides reasonable reassurance that the cattle entering through the ports of entry legally are safe to bring into the country.”
Border-wide screwworm surveillance data supports that confidence:
- Active U.S. Cases: Currently stands at three active cases nationwide (one in New Mexico) and 49 confirmed cases overall — compared to historical outbreaks in 1972 that saw over 90,000 cases.
- Trapping & Surveillance: More than 120 dedicated screwworm traps and 8,000 border fruit-fly traps have returned zero screwworm flies.
- Wildlife Monitoring: AI-assisted monitoring across 130 trail cameras and 1,800 drone flights have surveyed over 112,000 wild animals with zero positive cases detected.
- Sterile Fly Dispersal: More than 1 billion sterile flies have been released to date, with dispersal running at 100 million flies per week across Texas and Mexico from the Moore Air Base facility.
Market & Beef Supply Impact
Despite the futures market’s initial bearish reaction to the reopening timeline, analysts emphasize Mexican feeder cattle will take months to reach the consumer beef pipeline.
“I don’t think the reopening of Mexico will, in the short term, have anything anywhere near the impact that’s feared, just because of the average days on feed at 200-plus days,” Close explains. “We’re going to be well into [next] year before we ever see any of those cattle finished. We still know that we have all-time record low supply of domestic cattle. We’re not going to import enough to offset that.”
Next Up: Columbus Port of Entry
If Santa Teresa’s opening proceeds smoothly, attention will turn to the port at Columbus, N.M., which has been discussed as next in line.
“No firm date has been supplied at this time,” Holeck says regarding Columbus. “I think it’s a lot of touch and go to see how operations proceed at both Douglas and Santa Teresa.”
Peel notes that while opening additional crossings would help flow, Santa Teresa remains the primary anchor: “I don’t know if they’ll get Columbus, N.M., open before the end of the year, maybe, but it’s not a real big port.”
For U.S. cattle feeders facing historic herd contractions, the return of Santa Teresa brings critical relief to feeder cattle pipelines while maintaining the strict biosecurity demanded by domestic producers.
“As I have been saying nonstop for the last year and a half, if we cannot feed ourselves in this country, then we will no longer know freedom,” Rollins concludes. “Protecting American livestock will always come first.”
Close and Peel were guests on AgriTalk PM on Friday.
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