The research objective was to compare high-energy forage options during the finishing period for Upper Midwestern forage-finished beef production systems. Twelve 0.80-ha pastures were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 forage treatments including: mixed pasture (MIX); simple cereal grain/brassica mixture (SIMP); and complex cereal grain/brassica mixture (COMP). Red Angus-influenced steers (BW = 439 kg ± 15.6, n = 24) were stratified by BW and randomly assigned to 1 of 12 paddocks and were grazed for a 64 d finishing period. Steers had ad libitum access to water and free choice mineral, and were given access to strips in each grazing treatment. Fasted BW was measured on d 0, 34, and 64. At the end of the finishing period, steers were slaughtered under Federal Inspection and carcass data were collected 48 h post-mortem. Data were analyzed using Proc Mixed (SAS v 9.4) where paddock was the experimental unit. There was a treatment by period interaction for d 64 BW (P < 0.01) where steers on MIX and COMP had greater BW (517 kg ± 8.1 and 514 kg ± 8.1, respectively) than SIMP (490 kg ± 8.1). Steers in MIX and COMP had similar d 0 to 64 BW gains (78 ± 4.3 kg, and 74 ± 4.3 kg), however steers in COMP had greater (P < 0.01) d 34 to 64 BW gains than MIX and SIMP (48 ± 1.6 kg versus 34 ± 1.6 kg and 31 ± 1.6 kg, respectively). Although d 64 BW were similar for COMP and MIX, there was a decided advantage (P < 0.01) for steers in COMP for HCW and dressing percent (295 kg ± 5.6 and 57.29% ± 0.55). Although there were no differences for LM area, marbling score or USDA yield grade, carcasses from steers in COMP had numerically greater means (69.7 ± 2.8 cm², 483 ± 16.9, and 2.5 ± 0.2, respectively) for each carcass trait when compared with MIX and SIMP. These data indicate that steers grazing MIX and COMP had reasonable gains and carcass merit and these systems can be a viable component of forage-finishing systems in the Upper Midwest.