The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in nutritional components and whey protein components between sheep milk and milk from humans and other animal species used for dairy production. The whey protein components of milk from Hu sheep, East Friensian Milk sheep and their F1 hybrid at different stages of lactation were analyzed and compared with those of goat, cow and human milk. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Native-PAGE were used to identify landmark proteins that differed between milk samples. The contents of milk macronutrients like protein, fat and lactose significantly varied between sheep breeds, between lactation stages, and between sheep and other animal species (P < 0.05) and they showed a certain trend. SDS-PAGE showed that β-lactoglobulin and lactoferrin differed between sheep and human milk, α-lactalbumin differed between sheep and goat milk, and immunoglobulin G (IgG) heavy chain differed between sheep and cow milk. Native-PAGE indicated that there was one protein band that differed between sheep and goat whey as well as three ones that differed between sheep milk and human and cow whey.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting somatic cell counts (SCC) and milk composition of Chinese Holstein cows in Ningxia. The correlation of 198 855 measurements of the dairy herd improvement (DHI) data of 19 020 Chinese Holstein dairy cows (from 2009 to 2018) from 7 different dairy farms was analyzed using Minitab software. The results showed that 1) SCC was significantly correlated with farm, year and parity (P < 0.05); 2) SCC fluctuated with season and calving month, and decreased first and then increased with increasing lactation length; and 3) there were significant correlations between SCC and milk yield, milk fat percentage, milk protein percentage, milk sugar percentage and dry matter percentage (P < 0.05). Moreover, SSC, milk yield and the major milk components were influenced by environmental factors (farm, year and season) and cow’s own factors (parity, calving season and lactation period). In summary, fine management is an effective avenue to improve milk production and quality.