Influence of diet and age on bacterial counts of ileal digesta and feces obtained from young calves.

The numbers of total aerobes, total anaerobes, and facultatively aerobic lactobacilli, streptococci, and coliform bacteria were determined in samples of ileal digesta and feces from calves 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 hr after feeding milk, or milk with sucrose or starch added. Differences in the flora could be attributed to diurnal variation (time from feeding to sampling), source of the sample (ileal versus fecal), nature of the dietary carbohydrate (lactose versus lactose plus sucrose versus lactose plus starch) and age of the animal (on a diet of milk plus sucrose).