Many changes occur in the rumen as calves transition from consuming a liquid diet to a completely solid diet. These changes can be greatly affected by diet pre-weaning as well as the rate at which calves are weaned and can influence growth and calf health. A 2 × 2 factorial design (moderate (MOD) or high (HI) milk replacer (MR) feeding rates and abrupt (AB) or gradual (GR) weaning) was utilized to study how pre-weaning program affects calf performance from 2 to 4 mo of age. Calves (n = 50) were randomly assigned to one of the 4 pre-weaning treatments. Data were analyzed as a completely randomized design with repeated measures when applicable by PROC MIXED in SAS. Calves assigned to MOD-AB were fed 0.66 kg MR for first 42 d then 0.33 kg for last 7 d, MOD-GR were fed 0.66 kg MR for 28 d, 0.33 kg for 14 d, and 0.17 kg for the last 7 d, HI-AB were fed 0.66 kg MR for 7 d, 0.82 kg for 7 d, 1.1 kg for 28 d, and 0.66 kg for the last 7 d, HI-GR were fed 0.66 kg MR for 7 d, 0.82 kg for 7 d, 1.1 kg for 14 d, 0.66 kg for 14 d, and 0.33 kg for the last 7 d before the start of the grower phase. For the following 56 d grower portion of the experiment, calves were grouped into 12 pens based on MR program, 4–5 calves per pen. All calves received ad libitum access to water and a textured starter (42% starch and 20% CP) blended with 5% chopped grass hay. Initial body weight (78.9, 74.3 ± 1.36; BW; P = 0.04), hip width (HW; P = 0.03), and hip height (HH; P = 0.02) were greater for HI compared with MOD calves. Only initial HH was greater for AB vs. GR calves (P = 0.02), but this was the same at the end of the grower phase for all treatments. There were no other differences between weaning method. There was an interaction where feed efficiency (gain/feed) was reduced with GR weaning in MOD whereas the opposite occurred in the HI group. Final BW, HW, and HH did not differ among treatments. These results indicate that during the grower phase HI calves lost their growth advantage over MOD calves, and weaning strategy can have the opposite effect on feed efficiency for MOD and HI MR.