Is a barn really necessary?

[Mercotroll]

I have a huge fenced area, and the animals have enough food (I have donkeys, yak, alpacas and turkeys). All in all, I have about 15 animals. I build a column, gave them a roof, and they sleep under it in animal sleep spots. The animals seem to be successfully reproducing, and there aren't any issues. Do I need to build a barn? Or would that just be extra unnecessary work? I should point out that I live in a temperate forest, and the winters don't get that cold (for the animals). They all seemed fine on previous winters. I'm on my first playthrough, so any tips are appreciated. Thanks!

[GrenadesAndHamm]

If you're not seeing issues, I wouldn't bother.

Although, it's pretty handy to have an enclosed are as a safe zone for attacks. But it that won't be an issue for you, then what you have seems fine.

[Steelfleece]

As long as the temperatures never get too hot or too cold, it's usually fine not to. It's been a while since I've settled in a location like that, so I always wind up building something. Always wind up on desert maps where heat waves mean chickens dropping from heatstroke even overnight or frozen maps where even the cold weather critters suffer in cold snaps.

[minniefinnie]

no

[Playzr 🐵]

A barn is mostly just something nice we give to our animals. If there were cold winters it would make sense so they have somewhere warm but that's rarely an issue. So it's really just something nice for them, and also gives them somewhere to sleep so we can treat any medical problems too. But then those barns can get very messy and can create an endless cleaning job for very little benefit.

[Steelfleece]

Originally posted by Рlαγζr 🐵:

A barn is mostly just something nice we give to our animals. If there were cold winters it would make sense so they have somewhere warm but that's rarely an issue. So it's really just something nice for them, and also gives them somewhere to sleep so we can treat any medical problems too. But then those barns can get very messy and can create an endless cleaning job for very little benefit.

Straw matting for flooring fixes the cleanliness issue. if you have animals, you're probably growing plenty of hay anyway. Now, the fire risk is an issue, but just make sure there're stone walls and nothing inside that's likely to catch fire and it'll be fine.

[Aranador]

You do not need a barn. I would replace fences with a full on wall though, keep the predator animals out.

[hardy_conrad]

Only time I start worrying about a barn is if there's toxic fallout, but my livestock do have an unfortunate tendency to get wrecked during fights.

[Wasted]

no barn needed. I do make a very dense clusters of animal sleep spots near my walk in freezer for both pen animals and on the other side of fence non pen animals I roof this area and use straw flooring. When all the animals go to sleep they are right next to the walk in freezer and easy to slaughter manually. I fence in my whole map and fence pen animals out of my crops.

for toxic fall out you can build roofs next to mountains all around the map and animals will usually go hide there to sleep

[Wasted]

Originally posted by hardy_conrad:

Only time I start worrying about a barn is if there's toxic fallout, but my livestock do have an unfortunate tendency to get wrecked during fights.

for all non pen animals i make a safe zone inside somewhere and send them all there right away everytime i have an event. (i also send my household mechs to the same place). doing this usually saves most animals and mechs. for pen animals who cares. its free meat.

you just have to remember to un-assign the zone after the event is over and dont have beer or drugs near that area.

[FourGreenFields]

If temperature isn't an issue, and toxic fallout isn't either, you don't need one.

You could still consider building a hay storage. Single room filled with (at least) one shelf, entrance towards the pen blocked by both a door and an animal flap. The animal flap keeps wild animals out, and you can use the door to (dis-)allow access for your pen animals (via keeping the door open or not).

[null]

from a food perspective a barn count as a building so food will spoil slowly inside instead of outdoor where it will spoil faster

[phflack]

Originally posted by null:

from a food perspective a barn count as a building so food will spoil slowly inside instead of outdoor where it will spoil faster

being indoors only affects deterioration, not spoilage
it will likely rot before it deteriorates, and if you put the food on a shelf (outdoors/unroofed is fine) it won't deteriorate at all (but will still rot)

[hardy_conrad]

Speaking of beer and drugs, I remember a couple runs when I was starting out and completely clueless. My livestock got overpopulated and ate everything in the pen, but I didn't realize they'd start devouring things like ambrosia I'd been storing outside. They were all just lying around overdosed and dying...

[TurtleShroom]

https://www.steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2878658604

This Mod disables Pens entirely, causing ALL animals to behave like normal Pawns, which obey Areas.

[Wilihey]

Originally posted by Mercotroll:

I have a huge fenced area, and the animals have enough food (I have donkeys, yak, alpacas and turkeys). All in all, I have about 15 animals. I build a column, gave them a roof, and they sleep under it in animal sleep spots. The animals seem to be successfully reproducing, and there aren't any issues. Do I need to build a barn? Or would that just be extra unnecessary work? I should point out that I live in a temperate forest, and the winters don't get that cold (for the animals). They all seemed fine on previous winters. I'm on my first playthrough, so any tips are appreciated. Thanks! :lunar2019piginablanket:

raiders will eventually come and when they raid you they'll attack your animals, when they get stronger as you progress they will have guns and a fence is not very bulletproof and its just gonna go straight through, what i do is make a perimeter out of wood walls and in the orders tab i remove the roof in that perimeter, so grass can still grow in it, you put a door in it and you have a really good defense for your animals, i also put a stockpile under a "house" that is roofed with a door and i put only food for the animals in there (mostly hay), i also like to make another house for all the animals to sleep in that is roofed too and if i get egg laying animals i make an additional house for egg boxes, imo thats the best setup for herding