Early life nutrition and management profoundly impact the health and productivity of dairy calves and by extension affect profitability and sustainability of dairy farms. Research into this topic is active, and members of the USDA Regional Research Project NC2042 have made many contributions specific to management and nutrition, including a colostrum emphasis. Field studies and USDA:NAHMS surveys consistently show that colostrum management has been deficient and contributes to increased calf morbidity and mortality. Heat treatment of colostrum can reduce bacteria loads and increase IgG absorption by the calf despite a small reduction in IgG level. While other colostral proteins are reduced by heat-treating, there have been no reports of long-term impacts on the calf. Investigation into IgG absorption has shown bacteria can directly interfere with IgG absorption, and there may be an upper limit on IgG uptake when feeding superior quality colostrum. Colostrum IgG may be increased by supplementing prepartum diets with nicotinic acid. Additional studies found mixed results on IgG uptake when sodium bicarbonate was added to colostrum replacers and colostrum. In relation to nutrition, a great deal of work has considered the level of feeding and its effect on calf growth and health. Calves can grow faster with increased milk intake; however, at some point, the volume of milk fed affects grain intake and compromises rumen development. This affects weaning age as well as growth and health after weaning. A meta-analysis and a large independent data set evaluated the effect of preweaning average daily gain on subsequent first lactation milk production. Both studies showed a small but significant improvement in milk production as calves grew faster, and both found grain intake was a factor in this improvement. Thus, research indicates that rumen development and the ability to efficiently digest concentrate and limited forage have a large effect on continued growth and calf health. Field studies further support the finding that grain intake at weaning affects growth, age at calving, and first lactation milk production.