Randomly dying cow?

[Stormfeather]

So now I'm wondering, just how do cows and food work? It was my understanding that if they don't have food in a trough, they'll eat from grassland around them, and that they have a radius to eat in. (Or maybe just the food trough has a radius).

At any rate though, I had a pregnant cow randomly just up and die just after I left my cabin this morning (my only cow, which is sooo annoying), and while the food trough in the pen was empty, I have their pen planted up with grassland. There were a few small brown patches that had been eaten bare and that I hadn't got replanted yet, but most of the pen still had grass.

So anyone know.. what gives with that? Did the cow just happen to have bad luck and stand on brown dirt each time it tried to eat? Do pregnant cows not just eat grass? Can they randomly die for other causes? Anyone know?

[TheLastRonin]

I'm not sure I can fully answer your question but I may be able to help. From what I understand a pregnant cow eats 10x the amount that a normal cow eats. I believe a normal cow eats around 5 units of food a day which means that a pregnant cow should be given around about 50 (some say 48 but I say better safe than sorry). If you were just relying on grassland to feed the cow chances are it ate all the grass and died of starvation with enough time for some patches to grow back (at any rate it seems it didn't get enough food for some reason). It is always best to have a trough in the pen for the animals to feed on. Bad luck with the cow, I wish you good luck for your next attempt .

[TeckXKnight]

Grass will not fill up your cows fullness bar and they will starve a bit more with each failed feeding. A pregnant cow starves 10x faster. Never rely on grass to feed your animals, it lowers their product qualities and kills them.

[Stormfeather]

Thanks for the answers. And argh, that makes no sense - if they starve on grass, why can they eat it in the first place?

[TeckXKnight]

It slows the starvation process, prolonging their suffering should you go inactive.