Vocalizations by calves are common after they have been separated from the cow and during the weeks they are fed milk. The purpose of this study was to understand the functional and motivational basis for the vocalizations. In the first experiment, some newborn calves were recorded during conventional feeding (twice daily for a total of five liters of milk per day) and some during a feeding regime where the calves were fed every four hours and received eight liters of milk per day. Calves on the conventional feeding regime vocalized more and at a higher fundamental frequency, than those on the revised regime. In a second experiment, calves were found to vocalize more when deprived of milk compared to calves that had ad-libitum access to milk. The results of these experiments indicate that improving milk feeding regimes can significantly decrease the distress associated with weaning. Vocalizations were found to decrease when calves were fed more milk more often. Each calf’s call was determined to be distinctive, through an analysis of call duration, fundamental frequency, and frequency of maximum amplitude.