Five groups of 10 Danish Friesian calves were used to test the effect of handling and hand-feeding with or without their dams present on their subsequent response to humans. The calves were either housed singly or next to the cow, and were subjected to handling or no handling for the first 4 days after calving. Another group was housed together with their dams for the first 4 days after calving, then moved to single pens and handled there for the following 4 days. Handling was carried out 3 times per day, consisting of a 6 minute milk feeding period from a teat bucket in conjunction with patting, stroking, and talking to the calf. After a period of 20, 40, and 55 days of being housed in their home pen, each calf’s approach behaviour to an unknown person was tested. Flight distance was determined on day 55. Results showed that calves that had been housed singly and subjected to handling during the 4 days after calving, as well as calves who had been housed with their dam for the first 4 days then housed singly and subjected to handling, had significantly shorter latencies to interact with the unknown person than calves in the other treatment groups. The same two handling treatment groups also stood at the front of the pen and faced the person more often than calves in the other groups. Conclusions stated that the presence of the dam was able to limit the effect of the handling treatment on the calves’ motivation to interact with humans. The primary socializing that occurs with the dam is likely to prevent any secondary socialization that would develop with humans until the calf was isolated from the dam.