The objective of this study was to evaluate the dry matter intake and feeding behavior of cattle fed cottonseed and vitamin E. The experiment was conducted University of São Paulo, Campus Pirassununga. Six cannulated non-pregnant, nonlactating cows were distributed in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design. Feed was offered ad libitum twice daily. Feeding behavior was observed during 24 h 5 by 5 min. Treatments were: Control; Cottonseed (CS): 30.47% cottonseed included; vitamin E (VitE): 30.47% cottonseed plus 500 IU VitE included. Diets were isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. The ether extract content was 3.74, 8.32 and 8.32% for the Control, CS and VitE diets. Data were analyzed by SAS (v9.3) and significance declared at P < 0.05. Dry matter intake, dry matter intake in relation to body weight and per unit of metabolic size, total time and average time per event eating, ruminating, free and chewing (eating plus ruminating) were compared through orthogonal contrasts, where contrast 1 = CS and VitE vs. control, and contrast 2 = CS vs. VitE. Both diets provided (P > 0.05) similar amounts of dry matter intake (15.44 and 15.40 vs. 14.64 kg animal day⁻¹), dry matter intake in relation to body weight (1.74 and 1.74 vs. 1.66) and per unit of metabolic size (95.10 and 95.25 vs. 90.69). Treatments CS and VitE had greater time eating (219.1 and 215.0 vs. 190.8 min), ruminating (437.5 and 430.0 vs. 291.6 min), chewing (656.6 and 645.0 vs. 482.5 min) but less time free (775.0 and 786.9 vs. 947.5) compared with control. The average eating time per event was not different among treatments (33.1 and 36.9 vs. 32.4 min), but the average ruminating time per event (29.12 and 24.58 vs. 20.62 min) and chewing (30.0 and 27.3 vs. 24.16 min) was greater for CS and VitE compared with control. The average free time per event was less for CS and VitE than control (40.5 and 38.4 vs. 49.5 min). Including cottonseed in a diet at 30% did not decrease dry matter intake and the animals spent more time eating, ruminating, and chewing with less free time. Vitamin E did not affect dry matter intake parameters and feeding behavior.