The nipple buckets were cleaned every third week
with a brush using hot tap water and a commercial
detergent followed by rinsing with clear water.
Hay was offered from day 1 of life; the hay intake
was not recorded. A pelleted calf starter (16.8% crude
protein, 4.5% crude fat, 14.9% crude fibre, 17.6 MJ
ME/kg; Alpuro FOK Ruwvoerbrok; Alpuro BV,
Uddel, the Netherlands) was offered from day 8 until
56 of life up to a maximum intake of 2 kg/day. The
amounts of starter and milk intake were recorded
daily for each calf. The nipple buckets were filled