The objective of the experiment was to compare the production and reproductive performance of dairy cows in two environments known to produce large differences in cow behaviour - the cubicle house and straw yard. In addition an injection of prostaglandin analogue was investigated in both environments as it has been previously reported that a post-partum injection.of PGF2 α can improve poor reproductive performance (Knight, 1985).

Forty multiparous spring-calving cows were allocated for 12 weeks prepartum and 12 weeks postpartum t0o either a covered strawyard (S) stocked at 0.12 cows/m2 or a cubicle house (C) stocked at 0.17 cows/ m2. One half of each group received an injection PGF2 (P) 21 days post-partum, the other half receiving no injection (N). All cows were offered a complete diet ad libitum (ME 11.9 MJ/kg DM, CP 164g/kg) and results for the animal production and reproduction are presented for the postpartum period, and results for hoof condition presented for the entire winter.