STUDIES OF THE AMOUNT OF MILK TRANSFERRED TO CALVES DURING SUCKLING IN A MOTHER COW HERD OF GERMAN RED-AND-WHITE, GERMAN BLACK-AND-WHITE BREED AND OF CROSSES GALLOWAY X HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN

Calves of the mother cow herd were subjected repeatedly to test weighi ng before and after a constant period (14.30 p.m. to 15.30 p.m.) for c ontacting the mother cows. Around 90 min before this the calves were t ethered with a neck belt in a special area of the barn accessible only for calves. The animals became well acustomed to this procedure withi n a few days passing the scale mutually in most cases without obvious signs of excitement. Using 947 measurements 128 cases (13,52 %) out of these were without any change in body weight and 76 cases (7,92 %) we re with a negative weight difference up to -1,2 kg. Positive weight di fference variation between 0,1 and 5,6 kg shows different frequency di stribution in the age groups of 1 to 20 days, 21 to 35 days and 36 to 50 days of age with greater weight difference classes being more frequ ent in the last two groups. Mean values (x sd) of weight differences a re x = 1,558 0,832 (n = 325), x = 1,836 1,073 (n = 219), x = 1,987 1,0 47 kg (n = 187) and those of growth rates are x = 0,878 0,443, x = 1,0 21 0,2 and x = 1,076 0,152 kg for the age groups respectively.