Holstein (HO) and crossbred cows from an organic grazing and low-input conventional herd were evaluated for activity and rumination from January 2014 to December 2017 at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, Morris, MN. Within each herd (organic grazing or low-input), breed groups comprised HO (n = 114), HO maintained at 1964 breed average level (H64; n = 83); crossbreds comprised of Montbéliarde, Viking Red, and HO (MVH; n = 248), and Normande, Jersey, and Viking Red (NJV; n = 167). From May to October, organic grazing cows were on pasture, supplemented daily with 2.72 kg of corn per cow, and low-input cows were fed a TMR in an outdoor confinement lot. From November to April organic and low-input cows were fed a TMR in a compost barn or outwintering lot. Activity (reported in activity units per day) and rumination (reported in min per day) were monitored electronically using HR-LD Tags (SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel). The PROC HPMIXED of SAS was used for statistical analysis and independent variables were herd, month, breed group, parity group and 2 and 3 way interactions of herd, month, breed group and parity group. Cow nested within breed group and herd was a random effect. All breed groups had similar daily activity in both herds. However, the H64 cows had lower rumination (495; P < 0.05) compared with HO (529), MVH (519) and NJV (513) cows in the organic herd. In the low-input herd the H64 cows had lower rumination (483; P < 0.05) compared with HO (512), MVH (507) and NJV (512) cows. In the primiparous group of the organic herd, H64 cows had lower rumination (495; P < 0.05) than HO (520) cows, and multiparous H64 cows had lower rumination (496; P < 0.05) than all other multiparous breed groups. In the primiparous group of the low-input herd, H64 cows had lower rumination (478; P < 0.05) than HO (498) and MVH (497) cows, and multiparous H64 cows had lower rumination (489; P < 0.05) than all other multiparous breed groups. In both herds, breed groups were active during the day and ruminated during the evening and night hours.