Herbage mass is a function of sward height and density.A rise-plate meter was used as a nondestructive method to measure herbage mass in steppe by rotational grazing,continuous grazing or without grazing.The results showed that the rise-plate meter could be used to measure the herbage mass in natural steppe,because there were good regressive relation between the herbage mass and the compressed sward high(r2 is 0.63-0.90) under different utilization of the pasture.One centimeter of compressed sward height related about 69-252 kg/hm2 of herbage mass.