The objective of this study was to classify dairy cows based on their individual behavioural characteristics. Observations of their spontaneous behaviour and responses during behavioural tests were recorded. The authors hypothesized that reliable and distinguishing characteristics of dairy cows are consistent across time and situations. The daily uninterrupted individual behaviour of dairy cows kept in loose-housing was recorded for four days, every five minutes. Based on the outcome of agonistic interactions, an agonistic index was determined. Three behavioural tests were conducted, a visual obstacle test, a tail fixation test, and an air puff test, in order to determine the cows’ reactions to environmental stimuli. The tests were repeated once a month for three months. The behaviours that were found to be correlated between repetitions included: time spent lying, time spent locomotion/standing, the agonistic index and the reactions to the air puff test. The first and second repetition of the visual obstacle test was correlated, but the values decreased over time. The response to the tail fixation test was not consistent over time. All spontaneous behaviours were correlated except the agonistic index was not correlated with locomotion/standing. There were no correlations found between the behavioural tests or between the behavioural tests and the spontaneous behaviours. The authors concluded that measures of spontaneous behaviours are best for distinguishing among individuals.