During three years (experiments 1-3) short-term grazing experiments were performed to study late season herbage intake by dairy cows. Change-over designs were used during experiments 1 and 2 while a continuous design with a covariate period was used in experiment 3. The effect of fouling on intake at a herbage allowance of 30 kg dry matter (DM) per cow and day was studied by comparing herbage intake on clean, grass-dominated pastures (treatment CG), with herbage intake on fouled grass-dominated pastures (treatment FG), in experiments 1-3. In experiment 2, a third treatment was included, consisting of grazing a clean clover-grass ley (treatment CC). Pastures on treatment CG were cut and those on FG were grazed and then immediately topped at the same times throughout the grazing season until the start of the experiment. In experiment 2, the grazing area of treatment CC was the regrowth after an early season harvest. The herbage intake on treatment FG was 13.0, 13.8 and 14.2 kg organic matter (OM) per cow and day in experiments 1, 2 and 3, respectively, while corresponding intake values for treatment CG were 13.7, 15.5 and 14.8 kg (OM). In experiment 2, the herbage intake of cows on treatment CC was 15.1 kg OM. The increases in intake observed on clean pastures were statistically significant (p < 0.01) in experiments 1 and 2 but not in experiment 3. Herbage intake was approximately 5-10% higher when animals were offered clean pasture compared with fouled.