Swedish native mountain cattle and their milk proteins : conventional compared to pasture operated farming for indoor and outdoor period

Abstract: Swedish native mountain cattle are a small breed from northern part of Sweden. They have existed as a breed since before the 1900-century. 1896 it was decided that one feature should be selected: hornless and white with black or brown features. The breed represents 0.3 % of dairy cows in Sweden and they are threatened by extinction. They have a small milk yield compared to other modern cows, but their milk proteins are of big interest. The purpose of this bachelor study was to analyze the milk proteins from Swedish mountain cattle with emphases on outdoor and indoor period from samples from two different farms. The pasture operated farm had 6 cows and the conventional farm had 11 cows participating in the study. The method was based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) and a percentage of different proteins in the milk samples was given. The pasture operated farmed cow’s milk had a 1.65-1.99 % unit higher total whey protein content. For total whey protein the difference between indoor and outdoor period was very similar for both farms cow’s milk. The conventional farmed cow’s milk decreased 3.39 % units from outdoor to indoor period for total casein proteins compared to pasture operated farmed cow’s milk with 0.30 % units. Pasture operated farmed cows milk had a 0.23-0.51 % units higher β-CN B and 5.54-10 % units higher β-CN A2, but 3.68-4.41 % units lower β-CN A1 than conventional farmed cows milk. The β-CN B was decreasing 0.16-0.44 % units and β-CN A2 is decreasing 0.87-3.59 % units and β-CN A1 was increasing 0.23-0.96 % units when indoor period was compared to outdoor period. Pasture operated farmed cow’s milk had 1 % units higher β-CN B than conventional farmed cow’s milk and 2 % unit higher percentage than the control milk. These differences could have many reasons. It does not seem likely that the differences were due to their feed intake. The cow’s milk protein profile has a natural variation during the lactation months. The farms could have different genetic possibilities, since they could come from different blood lines.