In Experiment 1, 37 crossbreed calves were used in a cafeteria study to evaluate calves preferences for different physical form presentation of concentrates. The same concentrate with 4 different physical presentations: meal (ML), pellet (PL), pellet and whole cereal grains (WHL), and pellet and flaked cereal grains (FLK) were simultaneously available from 4 to 45 d age (weaning). A preference diet ratio was calculated: daily concentrate DM intake for each concentrate presentation divided by daily total DM intake divided by the total number of concentrate offered, and an ANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyze the preference ratio. In Experiment 2, 63 Holstein calves were randomly distributed in 2x2 factorial design to evaluate performance of calves fed 2 different protein sources in the milk replacer (MR) and 2 concentrates with different presentation form: calves received either a MR containing dried whey as a protein source, and a pellet concentrate with whole grains of corn and barley or corn and barley flakes; or calves received a MR with dried skim milk as protein ingredient, and a pellet concentrate with whole grains of corn and barley or corn and barley flakes. Animals were weighed weekly, and intakes were recorded daily. Data were analyzed with an ANOVA with repeated measures. In Experiment 1, during the first week of study, calves had a lower (P < 0.01) preference for FLK than for WHL; however, thereafter calves showed the greatest (P < 0.01) preference for FLK at 2, 4, and 5 week of study. In Experiment 2, there were no differences between milk replacer types, and starter concentrate intake was greater (P < 0.05) in whole-grain than in flaked-grain concentrates from the 5 wk of study until weaning. However, no differences in growth or gain to feed ratio were observed. It is concluded that preweaned calves prefer concentrates based on pellets and flaked-grains, and when flaked-grains are compared with whole-grains, lower concentrate intake is observed, but their performance was not impaired.