The Truth About Feeding Bermuda Hay: Is It Right for Your Horse?

Bermuda hay gets a mixed reputation with horse owners, but the answer isn’t as complicated as people sometimes make it. Good Bermuda can be an excellent everyday forage for many horses; poor Bermuda is what gets people—and horses—into trouble.

I’ve fed Bermuda for years in Louisiana barns to pleasure horses, young horses, layups, and horses in regular work. I’ve also opened bales that looked fine on the outside but turned coarse, dusty, or stemmy once the strings came off. I’ll walk you through what I check before feeding a new load and when I’d take a closer look at the hay—especially for horses with a colic history, special nutritional needs, or a bigger calorie demand.

Is Bermuda Hay Good for Horses?

For a lot of healthy adult horses, good Bermuda works fine as the main forage. It gives them fiber, something to chew on for much of the day, and usually fewer calories than alfalfa. That doesn’t mean every horse should eat the same bale, though. A broodmare, a growing youngster, a hard-working racehorse, and an easy keeper with insulin problems don’t have the same nutritional needs.

Bermudagrass is a warm-season grass that grows well in heat and humidity. In Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and much of the Southeast, it’s often the most practical hay to buy. A local load of clean Bermuda may be easier to inspect, easier to replace, and much less expensive than shipping timothy or orchardgrass hay across the country.

What matters most is the hay itself. The same field can turn out very different hay from one cutting to the next, depending on maturity, weather, fertilizer, curing, and storage. That’s why I look at the bale before I worry too much about the name on the tag.

Horses That Often Do Well on Bermuda

• Healthy adult horses in light to moderate work.
• Pleasure horses and trail horses that hold their weight on a forage-based diet.
• Many easy keepers that need plenty of chew time without the added calories of rich legume hay.
• Performance horses when the rest of the ration covers their higher calorie, protein, mineral, and electrolyte needs.

For horses in regular work, including racehorses and other performance horses, I treat forage as the base of the feeding program. You can add calories and supplements where they’re needed, but you can’t really replace good-quality forage with a scoop of grain.

Horses That Need a Closer Look

• Horses with a previous ileal or impaction colic episode.
• Older horses or horses with worn teeth that struggle to chew coarse stems.
• Horses that drink poorly, especially during cold weather, travel, stall rest, or a routine change.
• Horses with EMS, PPID, insulin dysregulation, or a history of laminitis.
• Growing horses, broodmares, and hard keepers that may need more nutrition than grass hay alone supplies.

Why Horse Owners Feed Bermuda Hay

When it’s harvested at the right stage and handled properly, Bermuda has some practical advantages for Southern horse owners.

It’s Usually Easier to Find Locally

Local Bermuda often saves a good bit in freight, and it can be easier to build a relationship with the person growing it. When I can, I like buying from someone who will let me inspect several bales and answer basic questions about the cutting, rain, curing conditions, and storage.

It Provides Long-Stem Fiber

Horses are meant to eat forage through much of the day. Good hay keeps them chewing, supports normal digestive function, and gives a stalled horse something to do besides wait on the next grain feeding. Bermuda can do that job well when it’s soft enough for the horse to chew and digest comfortably.

It Can Fit Many Easy Keepers

Bermuda is often less calorie-dense than alfalfa, which makes it useful for plenty of horses that gain weight easily. But grass hay doesn’t automatically mean low sugar. If you’re feeding a horse with insulin dysregulation, EMS, PPID, or a laminitis history, test the hay and use the result to guide the whole diet.

Good Bermuda Is Usually Easy to Feed

Soft, leafy Bermuda is usually well accepted by horses. If a horse starts sorting through hay, dropping wads, leaving a lot behind, or taking much longer than usual to clean up, check both the bale and the horse’s mouth. Tough stems, dusty hay, sharp dental points, and sore mouths can all show up at feeding time.

Can Bermuda Hay Cause Colic?

Bermuda hay doesn’t automatically cause colic, and many horses do well on it for years. Still, this concern deserves a straight answer. Veterinary literature has linked Coastal Bermudagrass hay with ileal impaction in some horses, especially in the Southeast. The risk is not about hay species alone: forage quality, maturity, water intake, weather changes, parasite control, dental condition, and the horse’s own history all matter. Read the veterinary case review and discussion here.

In plain barn terms, I’d be more careful with a horse that has a history of impaction colic, doesn’t drink well, has poor teeth, or is suddenly switched onto coarse hay. Mature, stemmy hay is harder to break down than leafy hay. When that combines with dehydration or another management issue, it can make a bad situation worse.

Practical Ways to Lower the Risk

• Change hay slowly: Blend a new load into the old one over about 7 to 14 days when possible.
• Keep water in front of the horse: Pay closer attention after hauling, in cold weather, and anytime the horse’s routine changes.
• Offer plain salt: Keep loose salt or a salt block available unless your veterinarian has told you otherwise.
• Pass on rough hay: Avoid bales that are overly mature, stringy, moldy, sour-smelling, or dusty.
• Stay on top of basic care: Dental work, parasite control, turnout, exercise, and a steady routine all matter.
• Call early: Pawing, flank watching, rolling, repeated lying down, refusing feed, or reduced manure output are reasons to contact your veterinarian.

For an emergency refresher, read my guide on what to do when your horse colics.

How to Choose Good Bermuda Hay

Before buying a big load, ask the seller to open several bales from different places in the stack. You want to see what you’ll actually be feeding—not just the best-looking bale sitting on top.

What I Look for When Opening a Bale

• Leaf content: I want more than a bale of bare stems. Leafy hay is generally easier to feed and more appealing to horses.
• Stem texture: Stems should be manageable, not woody, sharp, or hard to bend.
• A clean smell: Fresh hay should smell clean and pleasant, not sour, smoky, musty, or moldy.
• Little dust: If pulling apart a bale makes a cloud of dust, I keep looking.
• Dry, sound bales: Hay baled too wet can heat and mold from the inside.
• Consistency: The bales should be reasonably similar in texture, smell, and maturity across the stack.

Does the Cutting Number Matter?

It can tell part of the story, but there’s no cutting number that guarantees good hay. An early cutting can be excellent if it was harvested at the right stage and cured well. A later cutting can also be good—or it can be tough if weather delayed the grower. I ask about the cutting, then make my decision based on what I see and feel in the bale.

Why a Hay Test Is Worth It

Your eyes and nose can tell you whether hay looks clean and usable, but they can’t tell you the sugar, starch, protein, digestible energy, or mineral content. A forage test can. That makes testing especially worthwhile for metabolic horses, hard keepers, broodmares, growing horses, and performance horses.

Use a hay probe to pull a representative sample from multiple bales in the same lot. Don’t mix samples from different loads, years, or cuttings. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension recommends sampling approximately 10 percent of the bales in a load when using a probe, then using the analysis to make feeding decisions for that specific hay. See its forage-evaluation guide here.

How Much Bermuda Hay Should You Feed?

Many adult horses need around 1.5 to 2 percent of body weight in forage daily on a dry-matter basis. For a 1,000-pound horse, that often works out to about 15 to 20 pounds of forage dry matter per day. The amount you actually place in the feeder can be different because hay contains moisture and some horses waste more than others.

At the barn, I don’t rely on a chart and walk away. I watch the horse: body condition, appetite, manure, attitude, workload, and what’s left in the feeder the next morning. If an easy keeper is gaining too much, a slow feeder and a lower-calorie forage plan usually make more sense than leaving the horse with long empty stretches between meals.

How to Introduce a New Bermuda Hay Lot

Even if you’re switching from one load of Bermuda to another, introduce the new hay gradually if it looks or feels different. Mix a little of the new hay with the old, then increase it over one to two weeks. That gives the digestive system time to adjust and gives you time to spot a problem before the old supply is gone.

Watch appetite, water consumption, manure consistency, and overall comfort during the transition. If a horse goes off feed, produces unusually dry or loose manure, or shows colic signs, stop treating it as a routine change and call your veterinarian.

Bermuda vs. Timothy vs. Alfalfa

There isn’t one hay that wins for every horse. Bermuda is often the practical local grass hay in the South, timothy is popular where cool-season hay is readily available, and alfalfa adds more calories and protein when a horse needs them. The best choice depends on the horse in front of you, the hay available in your area, and what the full ration looks like.

Mixing Bermuda with alfalfa works well in a lot of Southern barns, but there isn’t a magic ratio. The right mix depends on the horse’s body condition, workload, pasture, concentrate feed, supplements, and what each hay actually tests for. For a deeper comparison, read my Timothy vs. Bermuda vs. alfalfa hay guide and my article about feeding alfalfa hay to horses.

Storing Bermuda Hay in Humid Climates

In Louisiana and other humid areas, good storage matters just as much as buying good hay. Bermuda isn’t mold-proof. A well-cured bale can still spoil if it gets wet, sits on damp ground, or is packed into a storage area with no airflow.

• Keep hay under a sound roof and out of direct weather.
• Store bales off the ground on pallets, gravel, or another dry base.
• Leave room for airflow between hay stacks and barn walls.
• Watch for roof leaks, condensation, damp spots, and hot bales.
• Feed older hay first and inspect each bale as you open it.
• Don’t feed hay that smells sour or moldy, feels unusually warm, shows visible mold, or gives off heavy dust.

If a bale smells wrong, looks questionable, or makes me wonder whether it’s safe, I don’t try to talk myself into feeding it. Throwing out a bale hurts less than paying for a sick horse.

Bermuda Hay for Horses FAQs

Bottom Line

Bermuda hay can be an excellent everyday forage for many horses, especially when you buy clean, leafy, properly cured hay. The horse matters more than the grass name. Check the bale, consider the horse’s needs and history, and test the hay when nutrition really matters.

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