Technical Abstract: The primary role of the dairy cow is to help provide high-quality protein and other nutrients through lactation to the human diet. It is clear that these high-producing and long lactations are stressful on the cows, and minor changes in nutrition and management can have significant impacts on profitability. More recently, it has been realized that nutrient supply and hormonal signaling at specific periods of gestation and post-natal development may exert permanent changes to metabolism affecting life-time performance, body composition, and metabolic function of the dam and(or) their offspring. These processes occurring during gestation and(or) shortly after parturition in the offspring have been generally referred to as ‘fetal programming’ or ‘metabolic imprinting’ and the potential causes of and consequences in beef cattle have recently been reviewed. However, there has not been a complete review of current research regarding this topic with specific reference to dairy cattle. The symposium presentations summarized herein describe the current knowledge regarding pre- and post-natal nutrition on life-time metabolism and productivity.