Over a three-year period (1986 to 1988), non-lactating, pregnant Sussex beef cows were subjected to grazing maize crop residues over the winter feeding period at one of three stocking rates [1.75 (LSR), 3.5 (MSR) or 5.26 (HSR) cows /ha]. Cows were blocked by age, live mass and body condition score (CS). Grazing commenced on 7 July, 9 June and 9 June and ended on 1 September, 1 September and 10 August in the respective seasons. The respective grazing periods were therefore 57, 85 and 63 days. After 8 weeks of grazing, the cows in the LSR, MSR and HSR treatments had gained 23.4, 12.8 and 5.3 kg live mass respectively. Cows CS dropped sharply after 8 weeks grazing, irrespective of stocking rate. Overall, proportion of grain and leaf (67.2% and 58.7% was removed from the lands compared to cob and stalk (29.9% and 35.3%).