The aim of the experiment was to determine whether different rearing systems for dairy calves before weaning could later influence their response to change of milking place in maturity, i.e. to milking in an unknown place. During the pre-experimental period, 96 primiparous Holstein calves were reared in three different housing systems (32 in each group) before weaning at 60 days. The first group was reared in loose housing and fed by an automatic milk replacer drinker, the second group was reared in individual hutches, the third was kept in loose housing with nursing cows during the first two months of life. After weaning all calves were reared under the same housing and feeding conditions in a loose housing barn. Then 33 of them (13 from the first group, 12 from the second, and 8 from the third) were used for the experiment as lactating dairy cows. After morning milking the cows were relocated from the loose housing where they were milked in the parlour to tie housing and milked in the stall. The parameters of both systems of milking were similar. The volume of milk recorded in the first three min of milking was reduced during the first evening and following morning milking after relocation (P<0.05). Furthermore, the negative effect of relocation was stronger in the group reared under nursing cows as compared with the two other groups, but only during the frst evening milking (P<0.05). In conclusion, relocation delayed the commencement of milk ejection. The commencement of milk ejection of cows can be postponed if the type of their housings during early postnatal period is taken into account.