How should I feed these grass eaters?

[Hayden]

At the moment I've got 5 pigs and this one Muffalo. The Pigs are alright. I just give em raw meat and they smash it down no problem. It's the damn Muffalo I can't deal with.

It's winter. The average temps are like -30. I have wild grass around that is 100% grown but he wont eat it, even when I restrict him only to that area.I can't plant heaps of haygrass or normal grass because I'm using the Seeds Please mod which means you need seeds for planting first.

But why the heck won't he eat the grass? He's going to die pretty soon from starvation. Please help.

[Brassqund]

Grass is like crops, they can't grow in cold temperature.
Even if you see some, that doesn't mean it is mature enough to be eated...

If you want some grass eater, you need to prepare BEFORE winter...
during hot seasons, grow some hay and stock it somewhere where
animals are not allowed to go. During that time, they will eat the grass. (pig also eat grass)
Once winter is there, you can allowed the hay stocking during that time.

You don't look prepare at all for that so I suggest you to kill them
and try next season. Prepared this time.

[Hayden]

Originally posted by Brassqund:

Grass is like crops, they can't grow in cold temperature.
Even if you see some, that doesn't mean it is mature enough to be eated...

If you want some grass eater, you need to prepare BEFORE winter...
during hot seasons, grow some hay and stock it somewhere where
animals are not allowed to go. During that time, they will eat the grass. (pig also eat grass)
Once winter is there, you can allowed the hay stocking during that time.

You don't look prepare at all for that so I suggest you to kill them
and try next season. Prepared this time.

yeah, I guess I'll have to lose him. I really wanted his wool. It would be so much easier without the Seeds Please mod, but I love that mod. Only issue is that seeds cost a lot.

[Frosty]

For muffalo, I have 4 of them, and I always prepare a stock of 100+ kimble and a stack of hay for when winter is coming. If you have a greenhouse, you can sacrifece your crops as a desperate attempt to save them, as they will eat your crops. Just remember to include the greenhouse area in the allowable area for your animal.

[Proteus]

If your settlers have the technology to build a sun lamp, then create an enclosed room on normal soil, with one or more heaters and a sun lamp in the middle. Unless they changed it in the last versions, you should be able to use the soil for normal farming (without needing hydroponic basins) ... and thanks to sun lamp and heaters, the crop will grow year round. Ideal for crop you also want to grow in winter

[Brassqund]

Originally posted by Frosty:

For muffalo, I have 4 of them, and I always prepare a stock of 100+ kimble and a stack of hay for when winter is coming. If you have a greenhouse, you can sacrifece your crops as a desperate attempt to save them, as they will eat your crops. Just remember to include the greenhouse area in the allowable area for your animal.

Making animals eat crops when they are growing is a waste.
When eating the plant, they got only a little of nutrition.

The best is to harvest it and put it somewhere where your animals are allowed.

[Grimelord82]

Not eating grass in the area he is restricted to is buggy behavior. He should be jumping on that...double check his restrictions, etc.

Since you have mods, try Easy Kibble so you can make him some from a single ingredient?
Vegetable Garden has Silage for a longer term solution.

If your restrictions are correct, I suspect that Seeds Please may have modified the "Grass" in such a way that he no longer finds it edible. A unique Thingdef tag might be the culprit. I haven't used that mod, so I can't say for sure.

What Brass says about letting animals eat growing crops is true, but some things are more wasteful than others. A full grown Rice square gives .3 nutrition harvested and .2 nutrition if munched on fully grown. So you only lose 1/3 of the nutrition.
Don't let them do that with corn though, because it's .9 harvested and .2 munched on. You lose 7/9!

[Hayden]

Originally posted by SausageLinx:

Not eating grass in the area he is restricted to is buggy behavior. He should be jumping on that...double check his restrictions, etc.

Since you have mods, try Easy Kibble so you can make him some from a single ingredient?
Vegetable Garden has Silage for a longer term solution.

If your restrictions are correct, I suspect that Seeds Please may have modified the "Grass" in such a way that he no longer finds it edible. A unique Thingdef tag might be the culprit. I haven't used that mod, so I can't say for sure.

What Brass says about letting animals eat growing crops is true, but some things are more wasteful than others. A full grown Rice square gives .3 nutrition harvested and .2 nutrition if munched on fully grown. So you only lose 1/3 of the nutrition.
Don't let them do that with corn though, because it's .9 harvested and .2 munched on. You lose 7/9!

As another user said, he might not have been eating the grass because it was considered too cold.

I say "not have" rather than "is not" because he died due to starvation. I meant to have a grave dug for him but my stupid cook ran out and grabbed him. Didn't realize what was happening until my Muffalo was on the table getting butchered.

I'll have to look up the silage thing in Vegetable garden. No idea what that does.