[Data on artifical rearing of dual-purpose calves belonging to the dairy-beef type. 2. Effect of single or twice daily milk feeding and omission of Sunday milk feeding].

The authors carried out a 2x2 factor trial to investigate in which way different regimes of drinking and the feeding of a concentrate mixture at 2 levels of nutrition would affect the general development, food consumption and nutrient utilization of the calves or would influence their state of health and their behaviour in the period of milk feeding, and after weaning, up to the age of 6 months. No significant differences in the average liveweight were noted between th groups of calves that were milk fed once or twice daily and those milk fed once or twice daily with the exception of Sundays. The feeding of 2 types of concentrated food significantly influenced the liverweight of the calves only at the time of weaning. Significant differences in weight increases were only noticed with regal to the average daily weight increases until weaning, i.e. between the groups of animals receiving milk feeds twice daily, with the exception of Sundays, and the groups fed different types of concentrate mixtures. The different kinds of feeding did not influence the amount of solid food consumed by the animals, nor did it affect the level of nutrient utilization and the general behaviour of the animals. It was found that in the animals receiving milk once daily,except Sundays, the symptoms of diarrhea observed in the early phase of milk nutrition disappeared more slowly than in the outher animals.