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Whether the impact of a grazing animal on vegetation is favorable or unfavorable depends at least as much on when grazing occurs (timing) as on defoliation intensity. Annual heavy grazing of perennial bunchgrasses in the boot stage puts their persistence at the greatest risk because soil moisture usually is declining and the probability is low of sufficient rainfall to permit adequate restoration of the leaf area to replace carbohydrate reserves. Long grazing periods without animal movement to other areas facilitates repeated defoliation and reduced leaf area, which is especially harmful. Grazing that enables rapid regrowth within and among years sustains perennial grasses. Grazing cheatgrass in the early spring has long been studied as a possible strategy for shifting moisture to bunchgrasses, harvesting high quality forage, and consuming fuel. However, the amount of cheatgrass available for forage is usually not known until only a few weeks before livestock typically shift their forage preference to perennial grasses (if present). Animal preference suddenly shifts to bunchgrasses within patches and variably across pastures. Optimal grazing management of landscapes with a mix of cheatgrass and perennial grass uses timing variation among years and animal movement during the growing period, especially when and after cheatgrass forms seeds and palatability declines. Cheatgrass can become preferred forage by cattle after the perennial grasses become dormant and the cheatgrass drops most of its seeds. Unless rain or time has leached or degraded nutrients, cheatgrass can have up to 6% crude protein late summer, fall, and early winter. Energy rich fine stems remain highly palatable. Protein supplements make energy rich forage more sought after. Thus, cheatgrass which is both forage and fuel can be consumed in the fall with little worry about cattle shifting preference to or damaging perennials that are quite important to rangeland resilience. However, fall grazing may impact wildlife winter forage plants like bitterbrush if present. Fall; more than spring, grazing can be tremendously useful for economic fuels management using preplanned grazing or criteria-based temporary nonrenewable grazing. Most big fire years occur when residual fuels from wet years remain abundant. This fuel could have been grazed in the preceding fall at negative risk to the resistance and resilience needed for sagebrush ecosystem persistence. Ecological site descriptions, range conditions, and grazing prescriptions assist in planning for greater flexibility in permitted grazing that could benefit perennial grasses, manage fuels, and increase rangeland resilience strategically across landscapes. Research and demonstrative management applications are needed for new paradigms to develop.