How long does it take for meat to rot?

[sillynipples]

I found a herd of aurochsen and a herd of mouflon right next to each other and I would like to kill them all, the mouflon in particular because I need charisma. But the problem is, our storage houses are already full of stuff so I need to build cabinets. Killing them, butchering them and building cabinets is going to take a while and I don't want my meat to rot. I'm thinking maybe I should build the cabinets first hoping the mouflon and aurochsen don't despawn and then go back to kill them. Or should I kill them, build the cabinets, and then go back to pick up the bodies? How should I do this? I'm the only one online right now, so I gotta do this alone.

edit: crap, a herd of mouflon right next to the other herd of mouflon. I'll never be able to kill all these guys by myself and our settlement is too small to handle this mountain of meat.

[cobaltjones]

Meat itself never rots. If the dead bodies are left unbutchered they will decay into nothingness within about 8-12 hours.

[sillynipples]

Meat itself never rots. If the dead bodies are left unbutchered they will decay into nothingness within about 8-12 hours.

oh thank god. So I should be able to kill them all and then make several trips back to pick up the bodies without fear of the bodies decaying.

[kaizokuroof]

Meat itself never rots. If the dead bodies are left unbutchered they will decay into nothingness within about 8-12 hours.

oh thank god. So I should be able to kill them all and then make several trips back to pick up the bodies without fear of the bodies decaying.

Yep. Worst case, even if you take 8/12 hours to get back there, you'll get the bones from the animals at least....