Lameness is a painful disease that affects cattle performance. Lame cattle may lay down longer than sound cattle. The objective of this study, conducted at the University of Kentucky Coldstream Dairy from March 18 to December 10, 2014, was to determine lying times of lame cows versus sound cows using a leg-based accelerometer. All cows (n = 96) were housed in 2 freestall barns and were balanced for parity and days in milk. Each individual freestall barn stocking density never exceeded 100%. One barn was equipped with sawdust covered Dual Chamber Cow Waterbeds (Advanced Comfort Technology, Reedsburg, WI) and another with sawdust covered rubber-filled mattresses (Promat Inc., Woodstock, Ontario, Canada). All cows were equipped with an AfiAct Pedometer Plus (Afimilk, Kibbutz Afikim, Israel), which recorded daily lying time. The AfiMilk milking system (Afimilk) recorded daily milk yield. The Hobo U23 Pro V2 External Temperature Relative Humidity Data Logger (Onset, Bourne, MA) determined temperature and relative humidity (THI) in each barn every 15 min. Ambient conditions were categorized as low and high if THI was below or above 68, respectively. Cows gait was assessed weekly using a 1 (sound cow) to 5 (severely lame cow) scale for general symmetry, speed, head bobbing, spine curvature, tracking, and abduction and adduction. Final gait score was calculated as the mean of all gait aspects for each cow. Cows scored ≥3 were determined as lame. The MIXED procedure in SAS (Version 9.3, Cary, NC) was used to evaluate factors influencing lying times. Stepwise backward elimination was used to remove non-significant interactions (P ≥ 0.05). Lying times of lame cows were greater than sound cows (P < 0.01; 10.96 h/d and 9.51 h/d, respectively). All cows lied down longer in the cold season versus the warm season (P < 0.01; 10.43 h/d and 10.04 h/d, respectively). Milk yield was not different (P ≥ 0.05) between lame and sound cows.