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The objective of this study was to describe the relationship between rumination and feeding and lying behavior in dairy cows. Rumination time was monitored electronically using HR-Tags (SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel). Feeding time and dry matter intake (DMI) were monitored using Insentec feed bins (Insentec BV, Marknesse, the Netherlands). All measures were collected in 2-h periods for 42 mature Holstein cows for a minimum of 9 d in the early dry period. Pearson correlation was used to describe associations, among 2-h periods within cow, first examining the relationship within a single period, and then modeling how this relationship changes when a lag of 2, 4, or 6 h was imposed. Periods when cows spent more time ruminating were associated with lower feeding times and lower DMI (r = -0.71 and r = -0.72, respectively), likely because cows were unable to feed and ruminate simultaneously. The correlations with rumination time changed from negative to positive when lags of 2, 4, and 6 h were modeled (r = -0.09, 0.24, and 0.15, and r = -0.16, 0.23, and 0.17 for feeding time and DMI at lags of 2, 4, and 6 h, respectively). These results indicate that following periods of high feeding times and intakes, cows spent more time ruminating. This relationship peaks at approximately 4 h after feeding. Periods of rumination were also associated with time spent lying down. Cows that spent more time ruminating per day, spent less time feeding (r = -0.34) and rumination times did not relate to DMI (r = 0.11). These data indicate that rumination time can be used to estimate within-cow variation in feeding behavior and intake, but daily summaries of rumination behavior are a poor indicator of DMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]