Bermuda grass is a solid forage option for horses and one of the most widely used grasses in the southern United States. It provides good fiber, reasonable protein when harvested properly, and naturally low sugar levels that suit many horses well. But not all Bermuda grass is equal. The variety, the age of the plant at harvest, and how you manage it make the difference between excellent horse forage and a potential colic risk.
Nutritional Profile of Bermuda Grass Hay
Bermuda grass hay is a moderate-protein, high-fiber forage. Crude protein typically ranges from about 7% to 16% depending on maturity at harvest and fertilization. Neutral detergent fiber (the total plant fiber your horse has to work through) runs between 66% and 74%, while acid detergent fiber (the least digestible portion) falls between 32% and 43%. Gross energy sits around 3.6 to 3.7 Mcal per kilogram of dry matter.
What makes Bermuda grass particularly appealing for certain horses is its naturally low sugar and starch content. Horses prone to laminitis, those with equine metabolic syndrome, or those with insulin dysregulation generally need forage with less than 10% non-structural carbohydrates. Bermuda grass hay frequently comes in under that threshold, making it one of the safer choices for metabolically sensitive horses. That said, testing your specific hay is always the most reliable approach, since growing conditions and harvest timing affect sugar levels.
The Coastal Bermuda Colic Risk
The biggest concern with Bermuda grass for horses is ileal impaction, a specific type of colic linked most strongly to Coastal Bermuda hay. This happens when a mass of partially digested forage accumulates in the ileum (the last section of the small intestine), creating a complete blockage. The intestine contracts around the mass and absorbs water from it, which dries out the plug and makes it worse. This type of colic can require surgery.
The exact cause isn’t fully understood, but the association with Coastal Bermuda is well documented. Coastal Bermuda tends to be stemmy and fine-textured, and its lignin content (the woody, completely indigestible component) increases sharply as the plant matures. As lignin goes up, the digestibility of protein, energy, and dry matter all go down. In a study of 245 horses treated for ileal impaction, every horse that re-impacted did so after being reintroduced to Coastal Bermuda hay. Tapeworm infestation is also a known risk factor, so keeping your deworming program current matters if you’re feeding this type of hay.
This doesn’t mean you can’t feed Coastal Bermuda. It means you need to pay close attention to hay quality, harvest timing, and your horse’s parasite status.
Why Harvest Timing Changes Everything
About 70% of hay quality is determined by how mature the plant is when it’s cut. This single factor matters more than variety, fertilization, or soil type. As Bermuda grass grows past its ideal harvest window, the stems develop secondary cell walls made of cellulose and lignin. Like wood, lignin is completely indigestible, and it locks away the nutrients around it.
The numbers are striking. Coastal Bermuda harvested at four weeks of growth contains about 16.4% crude protein, 29.1% crude fiber, and has a dry matter digestibility of nearly 62%. Wait just two more weeks to a six-week harvest, and crude protein drops to 13.3%, fiber climbs to 31.6%, and digestibility falls to 58%. That six-week hay has only half the crude protein and 80% of the energy of the four-week hay. The leaf-to-stem ratio also shifts dramatically, from 79% leaf at four weeks down to 62% leaf at six weeks. Leaves are where most of the nutrition lives.
If you’re buying Bermuda hay, ask about the cutting schedule. Hay cut on a four-week rotation will be noticeably softer, leafier, and more nutritious than hay left to mature longer.
Tifton 85 vs. Coastal Bermuda
Not all Bermuda varieties carry the same risks or nutritional value. Tifton 85, a newer hybrid, outperforms traditional Coastal Bermuda in several important ways. Despite having slightly higher total fiber on paper, Tifton 85 is dramatically more digestible. In feeding trials with cattle (horse-specific data is limited), animals digesting Tifton 85 broke down 55% more of the fiber and 48% more of the dry matter compared to Coastal Bermuda.
The reason comes down to lignin. Coastal Bermuda has higher concentrations of lignin and a specific compound called ether-linked ferulic acid, both of which make fiber harder to break down in the gut. Tifton 85 has lower lignin levels and higher concentrations of the sugars that gut microbes can actually ferment. The practical result is a hay that provides more usable energy and nutrition per pound.
If you’re in an area where Tifton 85 is available, it’s generally a better choice for horses, both nutritionally and in terms of reducing the impaction risk associated with the high-lignin, stemmy character of Coastal Bermuda.
Bermuda Grass as Pasture
Bermuda grass makes excellent horse pasture in warm climates. It’s drought-tolerant, recovers well from grazing pressure, and forms a dense sod that holds up to hoof traffic. For grazing management, let the grass reach at least 4 to 6 inches before turning horses out, and move them off or rotate before it’s grazed below 2 inches. Keeping that minimum residual height protects the root system and allows faster regrowth.
Rotational grazing improves the efficiency of your pasture by 10% to 15% compared to continuous grazing. In practical terms, that means you can support slightly more horses on the same acreage, or give your existing horses better-quality forage throughout the season. Horses on fresh Bermuda grass pasture also get the benefit of higher vitamin E levels compared to those eating only hay, since vitamin E degrades rapidly once forage is cut, dried, and stored.
Mineral Gaps in a Bermuda-Only Diet
Bermuda grass hay has one consistent nutritional flaw: its calcium-to-phosphorus ratio is inverted. Horses need a dietary ratio of at least 1:1 calcium to phosphorus, with 2:1 being ideal. A 1,100-pound horse eating Coastal Bermuda hay at 2% of body weight gets roughly 18.7 grams of calcium and 26.5 grams of phosphorus per day. That’s a ratio of about 0.7:1, meaning significantly more phosphorus than calcium. Because phosphorus competes with calcium for absorption in the gut, this imbalance can lead to bone problems over time, particularly in growing horses, pregnant mares, and hard-working performance horses.
A calcium supplement or a well-formulated ration balancer corrects this easily. This is not optional if Bermuda grass is the primary forage in your horse’s diet.
Vitamin E and selenium are also worth watching. Vitamin E levels in hay drop quickly after harvest and continue declining in storage, so horses eating only cured Bermuda hay (with no access to fresh pasture) are likely to fall short. Selenium levels in hay depend entirely on soil content in the region where it was grown, which varies enormously across the country. A forage test or blood work can tell you where your horse stands on both.
Choosing and Feeding Bermuda Hay
When evaluating Bermuda grass hay for horses, look for a leafy, soft texture rather than coarse, stemmy bales. The color should be green to light green, not brown or yellow. Ask the grower about the harvest interval: four-week cuttings are ideal, and anything beyond six weeks will have noticeably lower feed value and higher colic risk.
If you can get a forage analysis, look for crude protein above 10%, ADF below 35%, and NDF below 70%. For metabolically sensitive horses, confirm that NSC (sugars plus starch) is below 10%. These numbers correspond to well-managed, early-cut Bermuda that will provide good nutrition without excessive indigestible fiber.
Pair Bermuda hay with a calcium supplement or ration balancer to correct the inverted mineral ratio, add a vitamin E source if your horse has no access to pasture, and keep your deworming program effective against tapeworms. With those adjustments, Bermuda grass is a reliable, widely available forage that works well for most horses.