Integrating crops and livestock on a multi-function operation could have multiple benefits and the potential to improve the profitability of these kinds of operations. A long-term, organic, integrated crop-livestock rotation design was established at the West Central Outreach and Research Center organic dairy (Morris, MN) during 2015. The objective of this study was to compare forage quality and herbage mass of winter wheat and winter rye for grazing dairy animals. Winter wheat and winter rye forages were planted on Sept. 11, 2015, for grazing during spring 2016. During the spring, 12-mo old organic dairy steers were randomly assigned to replicated groups (winter wheat or winter rye), but balanced by breed group to reduce potential breed bias. Grazing of dairy steers was initiated on April 25, 2016 when forages were 20–30 cm tall and strip size was adjusted to leave 7–13 cm of refusals. Random samples of pasture forage were sampled every 3 d when a group of steers moved to a new paddock. Pasture clippings were randomly collected in a 0.76 m² square of pasture. Forage samples were sent to Rock River Laboratory, Inc., Watertown, WI and were analyzed with NIR spectrophotometry for DM, CP, and total-tract NDF digestibility (TTNDFD). Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS. Independent variables for analyses were the fixed effects of forage (winter wheat or winter rye), date of clipping, and the interaction of date and forage, and replicate paddock was a random variable. Winter rye (2,944 kg DM/ha) had greater (P < 0.05) herbage mass compared with winter wheat (2,266 kg DM/ha). The DM was lower (P < 0.05) for winter rye (18.9%) compared with winter wheat (20.8%). The CP was 17.6% and 19.3% for winter rye and winter wheat, respectively (P < 0.01). The TTNDFD was 56.3% for both winter rye and winter wheat, respectively (P = 0.99). In summary, CP was greater for winter wheat compared with winter rye; however, TTNDFD did not differ between cover cropping grazing systems. Winter rye and winter wheat may provide adequate forage for during the spring grazing season.