A problem with sheeps?

[SirRantsAlot]

I bought a pair of them, gave them a big area and 5 herders. Soon they grow up to 4 and even 5 (maximum was 14 for the area) and then suddenly they reduce. 3,2 and now only one sheep left. What has happened? I did not slaughter them.

[Alaskan Glitch]

You need a minimum of 6 animals of any kind before they will reproduce. If you have fewer than 6 they will not reproduce and will eventually die from old age.

[28rommel]

Starting with 2 is usually fine (some past comments indicate you can even start with just one animal). Not sure why they decreased this way.
By the way, you only need one herdsman per pasture.

Were your sheep transferred to an actual Pasture that you constructed (separately, away from the Trading Post) ? Because if you leave your newly purchased animals in the small enclosure within the Trading Post, your animals will slowly die here. You need to move them after you buy them, to a real "Pasture."

[SirRantsAlot]

@Alasakan
But they reproduce. I started with two and came up to five. Just read what i wrote.
@ 28
One herdsman is enough no matter how big the pasture is? The pasture for the sheeps is really big and far away from Trading post.

[maiden4meldin]

Originally posted by koyangi:

@Alasakan
But they reproduce. I started with two and came up to five. Just read what i wrote.
@ 28
One herdsman is enough no matter how big the pasture is? The pasture for the sheeps is really big and far away from Trading post.

Yes One herdsman is technically enough for a large pasture. But, I have tested this. And adding extra Herdsmen to a dairy farm, produces an extra quantity of milk. I have built a 30x30 Pasture, hired two herdsmen from the beginning, waited for the farm to fill with animals, and got to as many as 8 herdsmen, and my milk production continued to increase. I haven't tested this in vanilla play recently. But I am sure others have.

[dixiechow]

Originally posted by Alaskan Glitch:

You need a minimum of 6 animals of any kind before they will reproduce. If you have fewer than 6 they will not reproduce and will eventually die from old age.

This is not true. All you really need is 2. I have also read where you can get away with one but I've never seen proof of that. Here is my standard pasture and ii works just fine:

20x20 square with 1 herdsmen.

Actually, koyangi, I have had something similar happen to me and it was with sheep. I kind of forgot about them and they were in the trading post pen for over a year. I built a pasture and moved them in. They has one baby and then just started to die. I had assumed they would be alright because they are animals but I was wrong. I know this can happen to chickens but then chickens are more fragile.

[28rommel]

Originally posted by koyangi:

@ 28
One herdsman is enough no matter how big the pasture is? The pasture for the sheeps is really big and far away from Trading post.

In vanilla (no mods), one herdsman works fine. I have always played my games with just one, and have never experienced problems. And in the past, when I did try two herdsman, I did NOT notice any additional/extra by-product from my livestock (this would be wool from sheep, or eggs from chickens).

[Trip Fisk]

Originally posted by Alaskan Glitch:

You need a minimum of 6 animals of any kind before they will reproduce. If you have fewer than 6 they will not reproduce and will eventually die from old age.

this is absolutely not true.

not sure if the animals are genderless. fairly certain you just need 2 of the same animal in 1 ranch.

in my current game I've only bought 2 cows and 3 sheep and both animals keep popping out babies

[pdoan8]

I always use one herdsman in vanilla game. In my experience, the production is more stable but not necessarily the most. With two herdsmen, you might have up and down as animals might be slaughtered more in year and could not reproduce/mature fast enough for next year. In average, you might just getting the same amount as having one herdsman. By having too many herdsmen (more than 2), you might kill the adult animals before it can reproduce.

Also, I always buy 2 cattle and 3 sheep in vanilla. Rarely have any problem with that.

[Vrayna]

Each animal in the correct age range will produce an offspring. How fast that happens depends on the animal.
Technically you only need 1 animal to start a herd, but if your original animal is too old, it might die before it had more than one kid, or any at all. 2 is safer,

Was there an infestation message that you didn't see for your pasture? Is it placed on a slope (if using mods)? Did you add buildings around it? Were the animals wandering in the pasture normall or were they all gone to one spot to stand there forever?

[SirRantsAlot]

@Vrayna
I got no message and i check them since its not too many. And the pasture is on a plain area and i dont use mods that make it possible to use slope area.

[SirRantsAlot]

@Trip
Thats what it should be right.

[olympe]

Originally posted by 28rommel:

Originally posted by koyangi:

@ 28
One herdsman is enough no matter how big the pasture is? The pasture for the sheeps is really big and far away from Trading post.

In vanilla (no mods), one herdsman works fine. I have always played my games with just one, and have never experienced problems. And in the past, when I did try two herdsman, I did NOT notice any additional/extra by-product from my livestock (this would be wool from sheep, or eggs from chickens).

Well, I play with MM8. And with the 30x30 pastures, I noticed that one lonely herdsman often doesn't manage to keep up with the work: My pastures often had 2 or 3 animals more than they should have, and the number didn't go down as fast as I thought it should. It's less of an issue with 2 herdsmen. I must admit that I didn't check for egg and/or milk production stats, though.