Conventional rearing schemes for milk-fed calves typically restrict milk or milk replacer intake from birth to weaning to encourage intake of solid feed. Current calf research is focused on the effects of feeding preweaning elevated planes of nutrition, what has generated demonstrable improvements in performance and animal welfare. The concern is the perceived decrease in insulin sensitivity. However, it is unclear if this persists after calves are transitioned to only solid feed. To explore the impact of early life nutrition on insulin sensitivity at maturity, milk-fed calves managed at low and high planes of nutrition schemes were followed from birth through the first lactation and were subject to a frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIGT) conducted at 12 months of age and at 90 days in milk. Our results indicate that an enhanced plane of nutrition from birth to weaning seems to have long term effects on the performance of the lactating cow by means of better glycaemia control. There is a need to follow up on the long term effects of early life plane of nutrition to confirm the performance effects seen in this study.