Abstract: Changes in the growth and nutrition content of cereals (spring wheat, oats and rye) under simulated rotational grazing utilization (SG) were studied in the Yellow River irrigation area. The results showed that under SG the forage yields of oats were 38.8% and 9.9% more than that of rye and spring wheat respectively. The total above-ground yields (grain and straw) of spring wheat and rye when used as grain production (GP, traditional utilization method) were 37.5% and 35.0% higher than when they were used as SG, while there was no significant difference in rye yields across the two utilizations. Crude protein yields of the three small grain crops were significantly higher under SG than GP. Crude fat contents of spring wheat and rye were higher under SG than GP, but crude fat yields of oats were lower under SG. Compared with GP, crude fiber contents of the three small grain crops under SG decreased by 42.9%, 53.0% and 21.9% respectively. Grazing resulted in an increase of water soluble carbohydrate contents and lower NDF, ADF and crude fiber contents when compared with GP. On the whole, the three small grain crops have higher feed evaluation scores when they were used as SG and the score of rye was highest.