Starving Cows?

[Girlinhat]

So, I wrangled up three cattle with the help of a friend. We got them penned away in little 2x5 boxes, a bull and cow in one, and a pregnant cow in another. The pregnant one had a food trough, which was filled with crap food and depleted within a day (like two days ago), so we planted more grass in their pens. Today, I look and the pregnant cow is dead. I check the other livestock, and the other cow is hungry, as well as a sow. The thing is, the living cow and the sow, are both held with a bull and, um, whatever you call a male pig.

So, is grass not enough to keep a pregnant animal alive? Do I need to expand the grazing area for them?

[TeckXKnight]

No. Grass will not keep your animals fed. They will starve to death rapidly with grass.
Pregnant animals eat A lot more than other animals so they starve to death faster.

[Girlinhat]

Well, it's grassland, we planted seeds and it made lush, green ground.

[TeckXKnight]

Well, it's grassland, we planted seeds and it made lush, green ground.

No. Grass will not keep your animals fed. They will starve to death rapidly with grass.

[Girlinhat]

Domesticated animals gain food from two sources:

* 1) The food trough: Any Seeds, Apples, Apple Cores, Blueberries, Chantrelles, Carrots, Pumpkin Flesh, Giant Pumpkin, Peapod, Straw, Poppy Flower, Beetroot and Beetroot Leaves go into the food trough.
* 2) Moor, heath and grassland tiles. These always count as a food unit of quality level 10.

If this is not true, then it needs to be updated, but the interesting thing is that the males are doing just fine, and none of them have ever had proper fodder.

[TeckXKnight]

S'true though, they do gain food from grassland/heath/moor. It does not keep them fed and their hunger degrades rapidly. Quality of products also will permanently drop from this.

[Girlinhat]

So, they do eat, but not enough to stay alive? I'm not -extremely- worried about food quality right now, because we're going pretty far trying to keep livestock alive, but it would be nice to have the tasty tasty +con beef available, or some wool should we find some mouflon. Gauze helps.

[TeckXKnight]

That is correct. Some food is better than no food and it's better to feed them craptastic fodder and have living q1 animals with Breeding 10 than dead q10 animals. Future generations for the win.

[Girlinhat]

Hmm, alright then. It does, however, look like grassland WILL sustain a male, so if you want to keep a single wagon-puller, you can keep a grassed enclosure. At least it looks that way due to our perfectly healthy bull and pig.

Time to expand our wheat fields.

[saltmummy626]

yeah, a cow on average eats what? 4.8 units of food per game day I think (someone please correct me if im wrong) a pregnant animal eats 10 times that. one tile on the ground equals one unit of food I think, maybe not. either way, there is also the fact that both of your cows were probably pregnant. just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening. so you've got (had) two animals eating 96 units of food per in game day. I never get animals until im full nature, makes feeding them easy.