Check out this final segment from Dr. Paul J. Weimer, from the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, as he wraps up this four part series on Megasphaera elsdenii & Milk Fat Depression: A good bug gone bad.

What you will learn:

• In 3 separate experiments, M. elsdenii was shown to be strongly associated with MFD in Holstein cows on a variety of diets.
• In 3 dosing experiments, M. esdenii failed to induce MFD even when dosed into cows from which the strains had originally been isolated during previous bouts of MFD.
• Causative role of M. elsdenii in MFD remains unproven in the absence of strain persistence.
• Future direction of research

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Other Videos in this Series

See what you missed!

- Part 1: Monensin, Rapidly Degradable Starch and Rumen Bacteria Community
- Part 2: pH, Silage Inoculants, and Rumen Bacterial Community Composition
- Part 3: Ruminal Dosing to Establish if M. elsdenii is a Causeative Agent of MFD

Dr. Paul Weimer received his BS in Biology from Carroll College (WI), and MS and PhD in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After 10 years at the Central Research and Development Department at DuPont, he joined the USDA-ARS Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, WI in 1988. His research interests include rumen microbiology and the role of rumen microbes in determining milk composition and feed efficiency; microbial fiber degradation; and microbial production of volatile fatty acids.