In an apparatus for detecting a parameter at a plurality of slivers fed to a drafting system of a spinning machine, especially for detecting the movement and/or the presence of a sliver, in which the parameter is measurable separately at each sliver, each sliver is drawn out of sliver cans over a respective driven feed roller and fed to the drafting system and is mechanically sensed by a feeler element, the deflections of which are convertible into electrical signals. To allow an improved and more accurate detection of the individual slivers in a structurally simple manner, a distance sensor that is a contactless distance sensor is provided to detect the position of each feeler element, the sensor being connected to an electrical evaluating unit.