Pasture utilization per unit of area and pasture intake per cow are major factors determining milk production of grazing dairy cows, both being primarily controlled by pasture allowance (PA). This study aimed to evaluate the effects of pasture allowance (PA) on forage production and pasture use efficiency by Holstein cows during autumn. The experiment was conducted at the Mario Antonio Cassinoni Experimental Station (Universidad de La República), Paysandú-Uruguay, during autumn from April 9 to June 3, 2010. Eighteen hectares of pasture with Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea) intercropped for the second productive year with legumes white clover (Trifolium repens) and bird’s-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), was utilized in this study. Total area was divided into 4 blocks of 4.5 ha, and each block was divided into 3 grazing paddocks (GP) of 1.5 ha. Thirty-six Holstein cows calving in the autumn were distributed in the blocks considering: calving date, body weight, and body condition score. Treatments consisted of 3 PA as follows: high (HA, 38.4 kg DM/cow/day), medium (MA, 30.3 kg DM/cow/day), and low (LA, 26.8 kg DM/cow/day). Means were compared using Tukey test (P ≤ 0.05). Forage mass (4300; 4240 and 4251 kg DM/ha for HA, MA and LA, respectively) and forage height pre-grazing (15.2; 15.0 and 14.9 cm for HA, MA and LA, respectively) were similar (P ≥ 0.05) for all grazing targets. However, there was a difference (P < 0.05) in forage mass and forage height post-grazing due to the difference in pasture allowance between treatments. The forage mass at the beginning of the experiment was high - on average 4264 ± 352 kg of DM/ha. The highest and lowest pasture use efficiency was obtained with treatments LA (51.2%) and HA (33.1%), respectively. The pasture managements with low PA (26.8 kg DM/cow/day) provided better grazing efficiency. Thus, it is possible to reach greater animal performance per area of dairy cows graze mixed pasture swards due increase of stocking rate. However, the impact of higher stocking rates on the persistence of pasture species needs to be investigated.