The impact of concentrate allocation strategy on metabolic and immune function has received little attention. This 140-d study (commencing at calving) examined the effect of either a group fed (GF) or individual cow fed (ICF) concentrate allocation strategy on hematology, biochemistry, inflammatory and immune competence of Holstein Friesian dairy cows (n = 72). With GF, cows were offered a total mixed ration comprising grass silage and concentrates (50: 50 DM ratio) plus 0.35 kg chopped straw/cow/day throughout the study. With ICF, cows were offered a basal ration consisting of grass silage, concentrates (6 kg/cow/day) and chopped straw (0.35 kg/cow/day), with this diet designed to meet the cows energy requirements for maintenance plus 24 kg milk/cow/day. With this treatment additional concentrates were offered ‘feed-to-yield’ via an out-of-parlor feeding system (0.45 kg concentrate/kg milk) based on each individual cow’s milk yield during the previous week. Blood samples were obtained from the coccygeal vein or artery of each cow at wk 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 20 (± 3 d) post-calving. Data were analyzed using a residual maximum likelihood (REML) mixed model analysis using GenStat (Version 16.2). Cows on the GF treatment had a higher mean hemoglobin (P = 0.009) and packed cell volume (P = 0.018), higher lymphocyte (P = 0.020) percentage and lower neutrophil percentage (P = 0.018) than cows on the ICF treatment. Cows on the GF treatment had lower serum NEFA concentrations (P = 0.028) and tended to have a higher serum albumin concentration (P = 0.055) than cows on the ICF treatment. There was no effect of concentrate allocation strategy on serum haptoglobin (P = 0.356) or interferon gamma production of whole blood incubated with pokeweed mitogen (P = 0.115). Allocating concentrates on a group basis resulted in small physiological improvements to metabolic function, but had no effect on immunological function, compared with offering the same amount of concentrates on an individual cow basis.