The objective of this study was to investigate how the location of solid feed offered to dairy calves affects their intakes and growth during the milk-feeding (d 1–42), weaning (d 43–56), and post-weaning (d 57–70) periods. Sixty Holstein heifer calves were housed in individual pens (152 × 167 cm) and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: solid feed adjacent to the milk source or solid feed opposite from the milk source within their pen. All calves were offered 12.5L/d of milk replacer (in 2.5-L meals, 5×/d) by an automated rail milk feeder (AMF) until d 43, when they were gradually weaned off milk by d 57. All calves had access to ad libitum water from birth and starter ration of concentrate (95%) mixed with chopped (2.54 cm) wheat straw (5%) from d 5. At d 57, calves had access to only water and starter ration and were monitored to d 70. Feed and water intakes were measured daily and milk intakes were recorded automatically by the AMF. Calf BW was measured 2×/wk. Data were summarized by period and analyzed in repeated measures general linear mixed models. Feed adjacent to the milk source tended to result in greater DMI (0.067 vs 0.056 kg/d; SE = 0.005; P = 0.09) during the milk-feeding phase. Feed consumption did not differ between treatments during the weaning (adjacent = 0.81 kg/d, opposite = 0.75 kg/d; SE = 0.056; P = 0.46) and post-weaning (adjacent = 2.99 kg/d, opposite = 2.87 kg/d; SE = 0.093; P = 0.42) periods. Adjacent treatment calves had greater water intakes during the milk-feeding (0.75 vs 0.55L/d; SE = 0.49; P = 0.005) and post-weaning (10.11 vs 9.30L/d; SE = 0.27; P = 0.04) periods, and tended to consume more water during weaning (2.55 vs 2.12L/d; SE = 0.16; P = 0.06). Greater intakes for the adjacent treatment calves may have contributed to a tendency for greater ADG (1.11 vs 1.05 kg/d; SE = 0.023; P = 0.08) during the milk-feeding period. Growth was similar between treatments for the weaning (0.83 vs 0.83 kg/d; SE = 0.04; P = 0.96) and post-weaning periods (1.22 vs 1.14 kg/d; SE = 0.06; P = 0.28). The results indicate that placement of solid feed close to the milk source encourages calves to increase their starter and water intake during the milk-feeding stage, which may contribute to greater growth during that period.