The objective was to assess the effect of prepartum lying time (LT) on stillbirth in transition dairy heifers and cows. A total of 1,051 Holstein dairy cows (401 primiparous and 650 multiparous) from 3 commercial dairy herds were enrolled at 14 d before calving until 14 d post-calving. Weekly, a cohort of 10 to 15 cows was enrolled at each farm and electronic data loggers (IceQube, IceRobotics, Edinburgh, UK) were fitted to the hind leg of individual cows to assess their lying time. All heifers and cows were housed in similar prepartum freestall barns and moved into a contiguous individual maternity pen for parturition. Stillbirth was defined as a calf born dead or died within 24 h after birth, and with normal gestation length. Blood samples were collected at 7 d before (dpp) and at calving to assess NEFA and calcium (Hypocalcemia ≤ 0.8 mg/dL), respectively. Data were analyzed using MIXED procedure of SAS. Multiparous cows had greater (736 ± 20 min; P < 0.05) LT before parturition compared with primiparous cows (597 ± 30 min). Multiparous cows with a stillborn calf had reduced pre-partum LT (716 ± 28 min; P < 0.05), increased NEFA 7 dpp (416 ± 44 µEq/L) and increased hypocalcemia (56.7 ± 11%) at calving compared with cows with a calf born alive (762 ± 12 min, 313 ± 8 µEq/L, and 33.6 ± 6%, respectively). Primiparous cows with stillborn calf had reduced LT (570 ± 35 min) and increased hypocalcemia (45.4 ± 15%) at calving (P < 0.05) but NEFA did not differ compared with primiparous cows with a calf born alive (625 ± 25 min and 18.7 ± 9%, respectively). These results suggest that LT, prepartum energy status, and calcium at calving of dams are critical for calf survival.