The majority of dairy farms in the United States house preweaned calves individually. However, group housing is growing in popularity and many farms choose to install automated milk feeders for raising these calves. We conducted an 18-mo cross-sectional longitudinal study on 38 farms with autofeeders to learn about best management practices for achieving good calf health when using autofeeders. A single observer scored a total of 10,185 calves for health using a modified health scoring system on all 38 farms and we also collected treatment and mortality rates based on farm records (from a subset of 26 farms). We found that the following factors were associated (P < 0.05) with better calf health scores and/or lower mortality/or treatment rate in autofeeder farms: reduced time to reach peak milk allowance (minimum peak allowance suggested is 8 L/d); feeding milk/milk replacer with low bacterial count (SPC less than 100,000 cfu/ml); use of positive pressure ventilation tubes in the calf barn; adequate amount of space/calf in the resting area (minimum suggested is 3.7 m²); small number of calves per group (suggested less than 15 calves); adequate farm average serum total protein concentration (an indicator of passive immune transfer); use of drinking speed as a warning signal to identify potentially sick calves; practicing navel and pen disinfection between calf groups consistently; and having narrow age range within calf groups. We also observed that winter was the season with worst health scores and highest treatment rates. It appeared that cleaning of the autofeeder and its various components was one of the most important keys to making these systems work successfully. Other studies have shown similar results. Housing calves in groups allows calves to express natural behaviors that cannot be expressed when housed individually, but it can be more difficult to achieve good health. Studies indicate that good calf health is achievable when using autofeeders to raise preweaned calves in groups as long as appropriate management practices and maintenance of the feeding equipment are emphasized and implemented. The MN project was funded by USDA-AFRI-NIFA competitive grant no. 2012–67021–19280.