A common reason for producers not housing bucket-reared calves in groups is the non-nutritive oral behaviours (cross-suckling) that occur immediately following a meal. This study investigated if non-nutritive oral behaviours are associated with a nutritive suckling, if it reduces excitement and if nutritive sucking can be replaced with sucking on a dry teat. First, the differences in behaviour and cardiac activity of calves fed from a bucket versus calves fed through an artificial teat. All calves were individually housed. Calves fed from a bucket had a higher heart rate during their meal and after the meal only these calves were observed bar sucking. Bucket-fed-calves also spent more time licking their pen or their neighbor, laid down more quickly and had less variation in their heart rate. In the second experiment, the calves were individually housed and fed from either a bucket or an artificial teat; however, the effect of access to a non-nutritive teat after the completion of a meal was examined. Calves fed from a bucket, sucked on the non-nutritive teat longer than teat-fed-calves. Access to the non-nutritive teat in bucket-fed-calves also reduced the amount of time the calves spent nibbling at parts of the pen and the calves would lie down quicker. The third experiment the calves were either fed from a bucket or an automatic teat feeder system, but both feeding treatments were now housed in groups. Initially when the bucket-fed-calves were one month old they spent more time nibbling at parts of the pen, however, by three months of age, they reduced the amount of time they spent nibbling and cross-suckling. The calves that were bucket-fed consumed more milk, which resulted in them gaining more weight. When calves are housed individually, the calves perform fewer non-nutritive oral activities and are much calmer when they are fed from an artificial teat. Also by providing bucket fed calves with access to a non-nutritive artificial teat after individually calves have finished feeding can compensate for the lack of nutritive sucking. When calves are housed in groups, an automatic teat feeder does not completely satisfy the calves desire to suckle. Regardless of housing, the provision of an artificial teat during feeding did not improve the growth rate of the calves.