The present paper reports on the antibiotic resistance of E. coli isolated from Danish piglets and calves in 1987–1988, and compares the results with similar investigations performed during the periods 1971–1972 and 1977–1978. Rectal swabs from 52 piglets and from 78 calves were examined. All the animals studied haboured resistant E. coli. This is a significant increase compared to the previously conducted investigations. The number of strains having three or more resistance markers did not differ significantly from the previous findings. The spectrum of resistance markers among Danish piglets and calves had increased through all three investigations and resistance to chloramphenicol was still found to be considerable 10 years after the withdrawal of chloramphenicol as a therapeutic drug for farm animals in Denmark in 1978. Certain resistance patterns (sulfonamide + streptomycin, sulfonamide + streptomycin + tetracycline, sulfonamide + streptomycin + tetracycline + ampi‐cillin) were found to be shared by numerous strains, suggesting a genetic linkage of the resistance markers. 1991 Acta Pathologica, Microbiologica et Immunologica Scandinavica