How to feed your animals?

[Patriot]

So I've been making as much kibble as I can, but within a day it all gets eaten and even then some of the animals are still hungry. This also puts a strain on my colony's resources for the people. Is there a better way to feed the animals? Is there a mod to decrease the rate at which they get hungry? Also is there anything wrong with feeding enemies to the dogs?

[Monoxide]

Animals generally are hard to manage, and it depends on what animals you have. If they are full herbivores, you would be better off feeding them just harvested haygrass. If they require meat or kibble, its more stressful because of the meat needs (especially depending on biome.) If you just have dogs, I would keep the amount fairly low until you can stockpile a bunch of kibble and/or can make it faster.

EDIT - There are no issues with dogs eating human meat that I am aware of. However, butchering a human DOES have negative affects on your colonists (unless psychopath trait).

I do not know of any mods that help with this, though. If you still want animals, but do not want to deal with kibble, try getting some muffalo/llamas. They are simple to tame, can graze on natural land, can eat haygrass, and even provide you with wool and (for muffalo) milk. You can also plant dandelions, and they will eat that too.

For a frame a reference, I have probably 30-50 animals on my current map. I store about 2,500 kibble at any given time, and roughly 10,000 haygrass. My animals are mostly dogs, but I also have llamas, rhinos, cassowaries, and one lone cobra. Takes a LOT of work to keep them all fed.

[Bullwinkle]

It depends a lot on what biome, season, difficulty level, etc.
One option is to create an inverted zone. I call mine "Animal Zone 3" for some reason. Then I assign all animals to it when they are struggling to feed themselves. I allow them to roam the whole map (except for a thin ring around the edge - so they never get toooo far from home), except areas I want to keep clean or free from hungry beasts (such as my farm).

Doing this, the animals can usually feed themselves. This also puts them at risk from predators, so beware. Create some other zones for your animals, such as a small one near the base they can go to if they need to be safe for a while, or another zone they can go to for your doctor to train himself by euthanizing the animal.

Keep the kibble inside a warehouse and only put it out to be eaten when the animals can't feed themselves. And restrict which animals can get to it based on their needs at the time. Move animals in and out of various areas according to the situation.

[AlexMBrennan]

Is there a mod to decrease the rate at which they get hungry?

Possibly, but you could have a look at this
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=887716138

Main advantage is that it allows you to make better use of resources (e.g. dogs hauling foods from the fields to the freezer tend to eat food intended for human consumption instead of corpses)

[Patriot]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. They're all very good and have enhanced my understanding. Sometimes we people can get too stuck thinking within our own mental boxes that it's tough to think outside of that box. My box in this case was treating my animals like colonist instead of animals. So thank you again.

[Bullwinkle]

Always remember: there is no box!

[Patriot]

Now there is another animal problem a muffalo has kindly reminded me of. Is there a mod that stops animals from attacking doors. This isn't the proper behavior of your average wild animal.

[Myriad]

Originally posted by Wayne:

Now there is another animal problem a muffalo has kindly reminded me of. Is there a mod that stops animals from attacking doors. This isn't the proper behavior of your average wild animal.

Neither are manhunting hares.

[Patriot]

Originally posted by Myriad:

Originally posted by Wayne:

Now there is another animal problem a muffalo has kindly reminded me of. Is there a mod that stops animals from attacking doors. This isn't the proper behavior of your average wild animal.

Neither are manhunting hares.

I don't know. I saw one so vicious once it had to be taken out with a hand gernade blessed by God.

[Oceon]

I am not sure how much animal you are talking about, but usually when it comes to dogs i assign them towards a "corpse pile" that i mix up with either human or animal leftovers, im quite capapble to feed up to 12 dogs without needing to waste own ressources by that, otherwise for smaller animals hay and kibble helps alot, if its herbivore i attempt to let them feed of the map