Associations between Gut, Mammary and Vaginal Microbiomes in Dairy Cattle: Role in Health and Disease

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High producing dairy cows are under significant nutritional and physiological stressors during early to mid-lactation, which predispose them to infectious diseases (e.g., mastitis) and metabolic disorders (e.g., subacute ruminal acidosis). These cows are fed high-energy diets, mainly based on grain, to meet their milk production potential. However, these diets can adversely affect the microbial communities of the digestive tract, disturbing the composition and functionality of microbiome, and the profile of microbially-produced metabolites. Many of these metabolites are signaling molecules that can impact hormonal responses of brain and immunological capacities of the cow. Such alterations not only retroactively affect the microbiomes of the digestive tract, but also influence the microbiomes of other body sites, such as the mammary system and the vaginal tract, resulting in initiation and/or progression of infectious and inflammatory diseases in those systems.