Studies to determine and compare the productive potential of forages from genus Brachiaria under same management conditions are scarce. Therefore, we believe that cultivars with similar morphological characteristics have similar nutritional value, and that management can affect this response. Thus, we aimed to determine and compare the productivity of forage produced during dry and rainy season of Brachiaria pastures when managed with 28 d or 95% light interception as criteria for interrupting regrowth. The treatments consisted of 4 cultivars of Brachiaria: B. decumbens ‘Basilisk’, B. brizantha ‘Marandu’, B. brizantha ‘Piatã’ and B. brizantha ‘Xaraés’, managed under 2 pasture strategies: every 28 d (28D), or when the canopy reaches 95% of light interception (IL95). The experiment was designed in completely randomized blocks, in a factorial arrangement of 4 × 2, with 3 replications (blocks). The evaluated variable was dry matter production (DM) in the pre- and post-grazing. The management did not affect DM production per year (P = 0.696), but during the rainy season the IL95 had higher DM than 28D. During dry season the 28D management provided higher DM than IL95, because the dry season had 6 grazing cycles, while IL95 had only one cycle. Xaraés was the most productive forage, with 14,961 kg DM/ha/yr; Marandu and Piatã were not different (12,766 and 13,076 kg DM/ha/yr respectively), and B. decumbens had the lowest productivity (10,986 kg DM/ha/yr). We conclude that management of IL95 provided higher DM during rainy season; however, they had the same productivity per year. Xaraés had the greatest total dry matter production, and B. decumbens had the lowest productivity.