When cows are offered a choice of foods they are able to select a consistent combination of these foods over long periods of time. Consistent long-term diet choice (DC) is the result of feeding behaviour, which may be regulated in the short-term. The shortest unit of feeding that can be measured is often a visit to a feeder supplying one food type only. These visits are usually clustered into meals, which are the shortest biological unit in which DC can be expressed. Previous work led us to hypothesise that animals may select a consistent diet within meals, thus ensuring nutrient synchronisation in the short-term. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether long-term average DC was a direct result of cows selecting a consistent diet within meals.