A trial was run to examine the influence of feeding a rumen specific live yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077 (SC), on feed intakes and body weights of calves at weaning. Sixty male, Friesian cross calves, aged 4 d old, were randomly allocated to either a control (unsupplemented) creep feed diet or one containing SC at 4 × 10⁹ cfu/kg. All calves were fed a commercial milk replacer (CMR) and offered straw and creep feed ad libitum from entry, and intakes and weight gains were recorded. At 6 weeks of age, the calves were transferred to grazing with ad libitum access to creep feed and monitored for a further 2 weeks, covering the transition period from milk to grazing. The calves fed SC had higher feed intakes at weaning (1.105 kg/yr versus 1.523 kg/d at 6 wk of age; P = 0.0434 and 1.179 kg/d versus 1.965 kg/d at 8 wk of age; P = 0.0272 for control and SC respectively). Correspondingly, average daily gain (ADG) was improved. At 7 wk of age, ADG was 0.659 kg versus 0.912 kg (P = 0.039), and at 8 wk of age ADG was 0.457 kg versus 0.707 kg (P = 0.0650) for control and SC respectively. It was concluded that supplying SC via creep feed prevented the drop off in calf performance at weaning, in terms of both feed intake and weight gain. This is important, as early rumen development and pre-weaning growth rates are related to a reduction in gastric upsets at weaning, future growth performance in calves and future lactation performance.