Our objective was to examine performance responses to feeding rumen-protected choline (RPC), methionine (RPM), or both during the transition period. Fifty-four Holstein cows (25 primigravid, 29 multigravid) were used in a randomized block design experiment with a 2 × 2 factorial treatment structure. Cows were blocked by expected calving date and parity and assigned to 1 of 4 treatments: CON (no RPC or RPM); CHO (60 g/d RPC); MET (12 g/d RPM prepartum; 18 g/d RPM postpartum); or CHO + MET. Treatments were applied once daily as a top-dress from 3 wk before through 5 wk after calving. Dry matter intake and milk production were recorded daily and milk samples were obtained once weekly. Data were analyzed for primi- and multiparous cows separately using a repeated measures mixed model that included random effects of cow and block and fixed effects of CHO, MET, week, and their interactions; week served the repeated effect. Interactions were considered significant if P < 0.10. Overall DMI was unaffected by treatment although RPC decreased DMI for multiparous cows during wk 1 postpartum (CHO × Week: P = 0.02) and RPM increased DMI for primiparous cows on the day of calving (MET × Week: P < 0.01). RPC tended to enhance overall milk yield (CHO: P = 0.07) and 4% FCM (CHO: P = 0.08) by 3.7 and 2.7 kg/d, respectively, for primiparous cows. In contrast, treatment did not affect overall milk yield for multiparous cows. Overall energy balance (EB) was not affected by treatment; however, on the day of calving, RPC improved EB by 9.7 Mcal for multiparous cows (CHO × Week: P < 0.01), while RPM improved EB by 3.3 Mcal for primiparous cows (MET × Week: P = 0.06). RPM increased overall milk fat percentage by 0.28% (MET: P = 0.03) and milk protein percentage by 0.33 and 0.37% during wk 1 and 2 postpartum (MET × Week: P = 0.10) for multiparous cows, but not primiparous cows. These results suggest that primi- and multiparous cows may respond differently to RPC and RPM during the transition period. This variation in response could be mediated by differences in choline and methionine requirements.