Case study of a commercial sheep flock under extensive mountain grazing: Pasture derived lipid compounds in milk and cheese

• Commercial sheep flock under extensive grazing on Cantabrian mountain grasslands.
• Correlation between lipids in mountain plants to those present in sheep diet, raw milk and cheese.
• Terpenoid, tocopherol and fatty acid composition of main pasture plants prevailed in the sheep diet.
• Botanical and lipid composition of mountain pasture determined milk and cheese lipids.

Terpenoid, fat-soluble antioxidant and fatty acid (FA) composition of pasture as well as those of milk and cheese from a commercial sheep flock managed under extensive mountain grazing in the east region of the Cantabrian mountain (Northern Spain) was investigated. The grazing period lasted for 2 months and ewes were at late lactation stage. Plants, feces, bulk milk and cheese samples were collected on two sampling dates. The abundance of the dominating botanical families in the mountain pasture prevailed in the sheep diet of the commercial flock. Major terpenoids and tocols in the pasture appeared as major ones in milk and cheese, whereas C18 unsaturated FAs in milk and cheese were derived from the intake of C18 polyunsaturated FAs which were prevalent in the pasture. No carotene was detected in the dairy samples but retinol (free or esterified), derived from the intake of β-carotene present in pasture plants, was found in milk and cheese.