Little is known about individual differences in responses to weaning and how these relate to other individual traits. The aim of this study was to associate measures of early-life vitality, learning ability, and personality of dairy calves with time to wean, weight gains, and feed intake over the weaning period. Calves (n = 40) were scored for calf vitality (score 1–10), suckle strength (score 1–4), and milk intake at first meal and in the first week. Calves were moved to group pens at d 1 of age and scored for number of assists required to learn to drink from the milk feeder. Calves received 12 L/d of milk until d 30. Milk was then reduced by 25% relative to the individual’s previous 3-d intake average. Milk was reduced by another 25% at each of 2 starter intake targets: 225 and 675 g/d (based upon 3-d rolling averages), and calves were completely weaned at the target of 1300 g/d. Feed intakes and weight gains were summarized over 4 experimental periods: pre-wean (d1–30), weaning (d31 until weaned), post-wean (weaned to d105), and total experimental period (d1–105). Personality measures were scored individually in novel arena, novel human, and novel object tests at d 21. A principal component analysis identified 5 factors that explained 68% of the variance. Factor 2 (active and playful in novel arena) was associated with greater pre-wean milk intake (P = 0.08) and pre-wean (P = 0.1) and post-wean (P = 0.01) ADG, Factor 3 (reduced vitality, increased inactivity) with reduced pre-wean milk intake (P = 0.05) and reduced final weight (P = 0.06), and Factor 4 (reduced first-week milk intake, slow to learn to drink milk) with reduced starter intake across all periods (P = 0.01), reduced pre-wean ADG (P = 0.1), and delayed age to complete weaning (P = 0.04). Factor 1 (high milk intake at first meal, strong suckle score, quick to learn to drink milk) and Factor 5 (less exploratory, longer to touch the novel object) were not associated with any weaning outcome. These results suggest that measures of early-life vitality, learning ability and personality are associated with feed intake and weight gains during the milk-feeding period, and calves at risk for delayed weaning may be identified by poor milk intake and learning ability.