Although impacts of dietary and environmental factors on calf performance have been investigated, no studies have investigated how rumen development, independent of diet and environment, influences dairy calf performance. The objective was to summarize the literature on calf performance and derive equations that relate rumen (e.g., rumen pH, reticulo-rumen weight, papillae area) and non-rumen factors (e.g., feed composition, form of feed, housing) to animal performance [e.g., intake of milk replacer (MR), starter, and forage; average daily gain (ADG); and feed efficiency]. In total, 146 treatment means from 36 trials were obtained under the following selection criteria: study reported dairy calves only; calf between 0 to 24 wk of age; calves had to be fed MR for some part of the study; study reported one or more rumen variables; and ADG >0.2 kg/d. Forward selection, multiple regression was used to derive equations to estimate variables that influenced the response variable in each model; models were weighted by the inverse of the standard error of the mean. Models were evaluated based on root estimated variance and concordance correlation coefficients (CCC). A positive association was seen in ADG between final body weight, weaned calves, and total amount of starter intake, while negatively associated with calf age, Holstein breed calves, and initial body weight (CCC = 0.961). Feed to gain ratio was positively associated with the weight of the ruminal contents (CCC = 0.904). Daily forage intake was negatively associated with the percent of the diet that was starter or MR (CCC = 0.999). Daily starter intake was positively associated with higher acid detergent fiber in the starter, a pelleted starter, and diets including starter and forage (CCC = 0.986). Daily MR intake was negatively associated with the percentage of the diet that was starter and ruminal pH (CCC = 0.940). Although dietary and environmental factors are closely associated with calf performance, ruminal factors appear to have additional, additive influences on calf performance.