In this episode of The Dairy Health Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Benjamin Enger from Ohio State University explains how understanding the cow's innate immune response is key to managing mastitis more effectively. He discusses when intervention may do more harm than good and the impact of early anti-inflammatory use. Get practical insights on host-pathogen interactions and evidence-based treatment timing. Listen now on all major platforms!

"If you intervene and it blights the cows' effectiveness with her neutrophil response, you're going to potentially prolong the disease."

Meet the guest: Dr. Benjamin Enger earned his M.S. in Animal Sciences from Washington State University and a Ph.D. in Dairy Science from Virginia Tech. He now serves as an Associate Professor at The Ohio State University, where his research focuses on mastitis pathology and mammary gland development in heifers and cows.

Click here to read the full research articles:

Effects of oyster glycogen intramammary challenge on primiparous cow milk somatic cell counts, milk yields, and milk composition

Localized mammary gland changes in milk composition and venous blood metabolite concentrations result from sterile subclinical mastitis

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What you will learn:

• (00:00) Highlight
• (00:56) Introduction
• (01:36) Guest background
• (04:03) Mastitis treatment timing
• (04:51) Innate immune response
• (06:07) Evidence-based protocols
• (08:10) Steroid impact discussion
• (09:59) Closing thoughts

𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺.

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