In my diploma thesis, I am describing the appropriate nutrition for calves up to weaning and its decisive effects on the health, growth and subsequent productivity of the animal. I am presenting the phases of feeding and their advantages and disadvantages. The vitality and resistance of calves after birth depends to a large extent on the mother`s diet in the last two months of pregnancy. I am emphasizing the importance of colostrum in the first hours of the calf`s life. I am describing the different sources of milk nutrition: colostrum, milk replacer, waste whole milk and whole milk, and different feeding methods: with a nipple, bucket, tube, suckling from the mother and am emphasizing the importance of proper hygiene in all methods. The breeder decides on the method of feeding and the type of milk feed, the amount of starter and hay in the ration and the time of weaning, but in all cases he follows the achievement of 5 goals, namely: 1. calf survival, 2. health, 3. rumen development, 4. optimal feed intake and utilization, 5. good growth also after weaning. Nutrition influences the development of the rumen, the growth and development of the calf, sexual maturity and later also milk or meat production and resistance to disease. In my diploma thesis, I am highlighting the importance of common feeding errors and their irreversible consequences.
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