Protecting grass in animal pens

[Corvus]

I saw some YouTuber advise that if you put down grass starter (or have a handy tuft) then put a fence post atop it, it will be protected from being eaten and propagate into the area where the critters can get to it. I tried that on the perimeter fence and it didn't propagate on either side of the fence line. Was there a change in an update, would it work with a solitary post, or was the guy just flat wrong?


While I am on the subject, I'm hazy on the animal doors. Sometimes with the coop, if I'm a bit slow getting to it, when I open it the chickens come out and scatter like quail (I need to record my running around trying to pet them all). Other times they're already outside with the door still closed. Can they work latches or was one trapped outside the night before? And what's the best time to roll the door down? "Didn't make it back? It's outside all night for you, chickie!"

 

[Lew Zealand]

I saw some YouTuber advise that if you put down grass starter (or have a handy tuft) then put a fence post atop it, it will be protected from being eaten and propagate into the area where the critters can get to it. I tried that on the perimeter fence and it didn't propagate on either side of the fence line. Was there a change in an update, would it work with a solitary post, or was the guy just flat wrong?


While I am on the subject, I'm hazy on the animal doors. Sometimes with the coop, if I'm a bit slow getting to it, when I open it the chickens come out and scatter like quail (I need to record my running around trying to pet them all). Other times they're already outside with the door still closed. Can they work latches or was one trapped outside the night before? And what's the best time to roll the door down? "Didn't make it back? It's outside all night for you, chickie!"

The Grass propagation is just slow. Wayyy too slow for my tastes. I tried this in my Ostrich Track Beachy Keen Emporium save as I used up most of my previously grassy spaces with ornamentation (this is a crime against chaos, do not recommend) and with 24 animals, they blast through what little Grass can meagerly spread like a very toothy wildfire. Even fencing off a square for the Grass to spread for a few days and then opening it up for a while just delayed the Pig- and Lizardmowers a bit.

I've mostly given up and will likely just do the Grass Starter spam on Winter 28 (in Winter now) and by the time the little Egg and Truffle factories clean me out by Summer, I'll just buy from Marnie. If I get to the Ranch by early Spring, she should be there by the time the Farm's been scoured into a barren wasteland.

And yes, I get trapped animals outside if I'm not careful to leave the Farm in the evening for about a half hour (in-game) and then return. With the increasing clutter on the Farm, they get stuck but magically teleport back when you go to another screen for a little bit. Then come back to the Farm and close those doors. Heh, the number of times I forget in the, what... 15 seconds I'm gone and upon return just go do something else like grab the Jade from the Crystalariums or Truffle Oil from the Oil Makers.

And then go to bed with the doors still open.

 

[imnvs]

I use 20 statues and lampposts (they work like fenceposts do) to ultimately slow the rate at which my animals eat through the pasture I have for them... but they are voracious. They will eat a lot of grass still.

 

[Corvus]

The wild grass outside seems to propagate pretty quickly but maybe because there more of it instead of the isolated clump. When I harvest it I keep a fair amount behind.

On the second question I forgot I had the Auto Animal Doors which explains the confusion. They open at 7:30 by themselves and close at 18:00 or when the last critter is inside, whichever occurs last.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

I let grass grow everywhere it will, and don't put fences, and I never close the doors. The animals are happy to find their own grass and put themselves to bed.

 

[Elenna101]

And yes, I get trapped animals outside if I'm not careful to leave the Farm in the evening for about a half hour (in-game) and then return. With the increasing clutter on the Farm, they get stuck but magically teleport back when you go to another screen for a little bit. Then come back to the Farm and close those doors. Heh, the number of times I forget in the, what... 15 seconds I'm gone and upon return just go do something else like grab the Jade from the Crystalariums or Truffle Oil from the Oil Makers.

And then go to bed with the doors still open.

Note that the inside of the coop/barn counts as a different screen. So I just quickly enter and exit the coop/barn to teleport my idiot animals that forgot how to get back, and then immediately close the door.
Or, well, that's what I used to do. These days I get autopetters as soon as I can, that way I don't have to worry about finding the animals each day to pet them, and then I just leave the doors open all the time. I still try and pet them most days but I stress a lot less about getting every single one. (I know I don't have to pet them *every* day once they get to full hearts, but I don't like keeping track of whether I need to pet them on each particular day.)

The wild grass outside seems to propagate pretty quickly but maybe because there more of it instead of the isolated clump. When I harvest it I keep a fair amount behind.

Also the animals may be eating it as soon as it starts to spread.

I buy 75-100 grass starters from Pierre in spring and that usually lasts me until Fall, but I have a pretty large animal enclosure on my main farm so that definitely helps. You want to spread out the grass starters when you place them, so that ideally they all have room to spread in every direction.
The Winter 28 grass starter placement is also a good idea.

 

[Hill Myna]

I've never been a big animal person.

So, I care most about the produce for use in cooking, gifting, quests, and stockpiling rather than monetary profit.

I open the doors as soon as Robin has finished construction and they never get shut after that point; I spread my "task areas" around my farm poorly well enough that any animals that wander are on my path anyways.

But regarding the grass? There is no way that anyone with more than 24 animals will be able to keep up. So, I just put them in the extremely grassy section of my Beach Farm and they'll eat grass until my farm is more orderly and I don't want giant patches of grass, at which point I can afford to feed them hay.

And the "Winter 28th" trick? Yep, absolutely. Once it's finaaally Spring, I want to be able to see big fields of lovely, green grass, even if just for a season before my lawnmoowerz break loose.

For those who don't know, check out this demonstration of the "Winter 28th" trick.

 

[LRangerR]

(this is a crime against chaos, do not recommend)

This is quite possibly the best thing you have ever said. Please ignore whatever i said last time, assuming I've said that you said something that was the best, because this is the new best, not the old best, although the oldbest is still best, just a different best.

I've never been a big animal person.

What about small animals?

 

[hexnessie]

The grass DOES propagate readily, but it is eaten by animals so it may seem like the starter isn't working.

Have a look at your farm on a rainy day, when animals haven't eaten outside -- you'll see a lot of new grass patches growing around your starters.

Having the starter blocked by an object is just a way to produce some new grass everyday so your biological lawnmowers don't tear through the entire farm.

 

[Corvus]

lawnmoowerz

I am so stealing this.

 

[MissDandy]

Along with what @Lew Zealand said, it takes a long time for the grass to grow. I know for sure that I've waited an entire season before just to get one small field. With all the coops and barns you might have, it takes too much time and space, which sadly but realistically could be put to a much more practical use. (Unless your purpose in life is to be a pig farmer for truffles, in that case all you need is a field, a few sheds and a few barns).

So either have all the animals you like and buy the hay elsewhere or have fewer animals and grow the hay yourself.

 

[Cuusardo]

I have a habit of closing up my animal buildings at night so that it's easier to pet them all in one easy pass through in the morning before I let them out to graze. It also makes it a heck of a lot easier to get milk from cows and goats if they're not roaming around the farm when you're using the pail for it.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I have a habit of closing up my animal buildings at night so that it's easier to pet them all in one easy pass through in the morning before I let them out to graze. It also makes it a heck of a lot easier to get milk from cows and goats if they're not roaming around the farm when you're using the pail for it.

Yeah, I just pet my animals in winter or raining or when they all bunch up outside the coop at 6am.
My animals still like me though I'm not sure how long that wil last as I plan on practically enslaving hundreds and hundreds of them on my farm.
That sounds even worse than I thought possible, how?
They do get mass produced and bought *fresh* hay from marnie, the things are going to be eating more than a thousand hay a day, so so many silos to be built and filled.

 

[FairyRing]

They do get mass produced and bought *fresh* hay from marnie, the things are going to be eating more than a thousand hay a day,

It would be cool if we could hire Shane to deliver hay to our silos and other various things around the farm.

 

[Quirinea]

I let grass grow everywhere it will, and don't put fences, and I never close the doors. The animals are happy to find their own grass and put themselves to bed.

I'm doing the same. I close the doors only when winter comes. I've never understood how anyone can take care of the farm opening and closing doors manually at set times and also do something else in the game. Especially as walking from end to end of town takes an hour in the vanilla game, fish have set times when you can catch them, you should meet people, run errands, etc.

 

[Quirinea]

Also the animals may be eating it as soon as it starts to spread.

I buy 75-100 grass starters from Pierre in spring and that usually lasts me until Fall, but I have a pretty large animal enclosure on my main farm so that definitely helps. You want to spread out the grass starters when you place them, so that ideally they all have room to spread in every direction.
The Winter 28 grass starter placement is also a good idea.

At some farms I've tried a fence system: There is a fence keeping the animals in. Divided into three sections with gates: One around the coop and barn (animals get there always) and then two sections roughly the same size. One is for grazing, the other's closed. Once the closed area is pretty full of grass, I open it and close the other. Putting grass starters there. BTW, buying the recipe for grass starters as soon as possible is a good idea. Fiber doesn't have very much other uses.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Fiber doesn't have very much other uses.

pssst!

...

Over here...

...

...early game

2 with

Hoard that Fiber in early game, my friend...

...pass it on...

 

[Elenna101]

I'm doing the same. I close the doors only when winter comes. I've never understood how anyone can take care of the farm opening and closing doors manually at set times and also do something else in the game. Especially as walking from end to end of town takes an hour in the vanilla game, fish have set times when you can catch them, you should meet people, run errands, etc.

When I did that, I put the barn/coop near the house so it only takes an extra 10-20 minutes in game to open or close the doors. Most days you'll be coming back to the house at the end of the day anyways. But yeah, there were definitely days when it just didn't get opened/closed.

 

[Boo1972]

Fiber doesn't have very much other uses.

I, I don’t know what to say - looks around farm with dedicated plots to grow fiber- are we, are we playing the same game?

Seriously though, I couldn’t keep up with my animals voracious appetites when I had 4 barns. No matter what strategy I tried, Marnie ended up selling me lots of hay. As long as I remembered to buy some on the 28 of each season things were fine. Which is to say, the animals went hungry a lot.

 

[Dr. eeL]

pssst!

...

Over here...

...

...early game

2 with

Hoard that Fiber in early game, my friend...

...pass it on...

Fiber is incredibly easy to plant and grow. I have the beach farm, with lots of open sand, and fiber grows readily on sand, with no watering required. Plant. Ignore. Harvest.