Managing the fatty acid composition of grazing ruminant diets could lead to meat and milk products t㏊t have higher conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) concentrations, but forage fatty acid dynamics must be more fully understood for a range of forages before grazing systems can be specified. The fatty acid profiles of 23 different forages, including grasses, legumes and wild forage plants were determined. Linolenic(C18:3, 41.1~58.6% of fatty acid), linoleic(C18:2, 10.1~27.4% of fatty acid), and palmitic(C16:0, 9.8~18.0% of fatty acid) acids were the most abundant fatty acids in all species, together representing ~96% of the fatty acids present. Concentrations of fatty acids declined as plants developed, but the fraction contribution of each fatty acid to total fatty acids remained relatively stable over time.