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The aim of this study was to evaluate whether housing conditions allowing the animals to lie in the mud and perform<br />more physical exercise can negatively affect reserve mobilization and milk production. In addition, the effect of calving<br />distance on blood metabolites was assessed. The experiment was conducted on twenty-eight lactating buffalo cows,<br />equally allocated to two treatments. Fourteen cows were group-housed in a loose open-sided barn with a concrete floor<br />and equipped with self-locking stanchions, where they received 10 m2/head of space allowance, as in intensive systems<br />(Group IS). Fourteen others were group-housed in a similar barn but they also had the benefit of an outdoor yard with<br />500 m2/head as space allowance, including spontaneous vegetation and potholes for bathing and wallowing, as in traditional<br />systems (Group TS). Animals were included in the experimental groups 5 days after calving. Daily milk yield, and<br />milk fat, protein and somatic cell content were determined 4 weeks after grouping (about 35 days after calving) and then<br />at monthly intervals (5 recordings). Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein in vacuum tubes 10 days after<br />grouping (i.e. 15 days after calving) and then at 10 day intervals (17 collections). After centrifugation, plasma and serum<br />aliquots were frozen stored until metabolite determinations (glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, NEFA, urea, creatinine,<br />albumins, total proteins, calcium, phosphorus, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine<br />aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase and &gamma;glutamyl transferase). Treatment did not affect daily milk yield and milk<br />fat, protein or somatic cell count content. Blood metabolite levels were not affected by treatment and interaction treatment<br />x time. Conversely, as expected, calving distance had an influence on most of these variables (P<0.05&divide;0.001). In<br />particular, in the first two months after parturition, glucose concentration decreased, whereas NEFA and cholesterol<br />increased as a consequence of the high energetic requirements of animals in the first stage of lactation. The systems that<br />allow the expression of some basic natural behaviour did not have any detrimental effect on buffalo metabolism and production,<br />thus they should be encouraged.