The objective of this study was to understand how the strategy of defoliation prior to deferred grazing modifies the structure of Brachiaria brizantha cv. marandu (marandu grass) at the beginning of deferment. The following three defoliation strategies wer e evaluated: 15/15 cm – canopy height of 15 cm in the three months prior to deferment; 30/15 cm – canopy height of 30 cm in the preceding three months and defoliation to 15 cm at the beginning of deferment; 45/15 cm – canopy height of 45 cm in the three preceding months and defoliation to 15 cm at the beginning of deferment. A complete randomized design with four replications was used. When compared to the 30/15 and 45/15 cm canopies, the 15/15 cm canopy exhibited a larger number of tillers (P<0.0001), especially tillers with apical meristem (P=0.0004), as well as a higher forage mass (P=0.0071), percentage of leaves (P=0.0005), extended plant height (P=0.0304), horizontality index (P=0.011), and remnant leaf area index (P<0.0001) after defoliation to 15 cm. On the other hand, higher canopies (30/15 cm and 45/15 cm) had a greater tiller weight (P=0.0399), percentage of live stems (P<0.0001), dead stems (P=0.0049) and dead leaves (P<0.0077), and leaf litter mass (P=0.0028) after defoliation. The maintenance of marandu grass at 15 cm for three months before deferred grazing promotes an increase in the leaf area index and in the number of tillers with apical meristem in the forage canopy. These characteristics may contribute to increase plant growth during deferred grazin.