Are farm animals profitable?

[PregnantMosquito]

Simple question really, i just want to know if it is worthwhile to have a bunch of farm animals. Are the products they give really worth the time and product you invest into them? thank you for your time and thoughts!

[pan terrorizer (with OnlyPans!)]

Yes.

Especially for Alpacas (or at least for me). Since they have a wool that fetches a high price on the market.

For food, you probably want to go with Cows, i think? Not sure about other people opinions thp

[Astasia]

If they are in a pen and grazing, yes, every pen animal is "profitable." If you are growing hay to feed them, it depends on the animal and what you mean by profitable.

[Veylox]

They're nice to have as a passive source but what they bring to the table is so negligibe that they might as well not be there. It's not like they cost anything as long as you let them graze but they passively bump your wealth and kill your computer too, since you'll have to make them mass reproduce before you actually feel a difference in terms of resources.

I usually stick to pack animals, and if they produce some wool or milk on the side I'll take it, but farm animals don't feel like they work as a main food source, and if I'm going to grow crops either way might as well ditch animals and just grow a lot of crops

[lumina]

Yes! They can be extremely profitable, but my way of playing probably only works on mid/low difficulty as you probably build a ton of wealth with it.

My current setup I got 5 cows sitting in a small pen next to my freezers. I killed off the bulls after the small pen ran out of food. These cows are just used for milk, and are extremely convenient right outside of the freezer doors. Easy constant protein there.

Then I have a mid sized pen of Muffalo. I use these for wool, fur, and meat. When they start breeding out of control, I slaughter a bunch for meat.

Lastly, I have a giant pen outside of my defenses for horses, since they don't produce anything like wool or milk. But they do breed insanely fast and sell for a lot. So horses become my main currency through parts of the game. When I go on caravans, I take a few dozen to trade. When caravans come to me, I take everything I want from them and give them a huge load of horses, plus sometimes some Muffalo...

I usually also end up with excess milk and put a trade beacon in my freezer to sell that off as well. Especially around the time I'm slaughtering a ton of Muffalo because they overpopulated. Infinite protein, wool, and blue fur + a lot of profit from these animals.

I guess I'm not sure what you call a farm animal here, but I tend to not get any but these three types. Sometimes I'll go donkeys or something if horses aren't showing up. Birds were too much for me to handle. Some chickens without roosters around could probably work out well though.

[The Yeen Queen]

Originally posted by Astasia:

If they are in a pen and grazing, yes, every pen animal is "profitable." If you are growing hay to feed them, it depends on the animal and what you mean by profitable.

With my current cavers, the only use they have for outdoor fertile ground is growing hay, so not really losing anything there by growing some to stockpile for Winter feed while the dandelions in the pen can't grow.

[Païtiti]

Depends on your map actually. If you are for example in a temperate forest with year around (or close to it) growth phase then there is not much work involved. If you are on the other on a low growth map then you need to grow a stupid amount of food for your animals which is, just from my feeling without doing the math, totally not worth it.

There are in fact guides on which animals are most profitable, like turtles being really good and horses, but having a turtle farm somehow goes against my ethics ;-)

Since raiders do not really care for farm animals anymore their housing became less an issue as well.

Another point is game performance. Animals on map cost ressources and having 100 chicken for example drains those ressources. So it also might depend on your pc if it is viable.

[Iridesence]

a chicken pen, with proper farm management, will provide your colony with a very good supply of meat & eggs over time that you dont need to go hunting for.

[Paroe]

Originally posted by Veylox:

They're nice to have as a passive source but what they bring to the table is so negligibe that they might as well not be there. It's not like they cost anything as long as you let them graze but they passively bump your wealth and kill your computer too, since you'll have to make them mass reproduce before you actually feel a difference in terms of resources.

I usually stick to pack animals, and if they produce some wool or milk on the side I'll take it, but farm animals don't feel like they work as a main food source, and if I'm going to grow crops either way might as well ditch animals and just grow a lot of crops

Any egg laying animals can be profitable in high numbers, and depending on what mods youre running modded animals can also be super profitable.

Personally, i like to run cactipine farms in my vegan colony since they produce medicinal quills that sell well.

[キールス]

I find boomalopes to be worth keeping for their chemfuel. A few pack animals like the muffalo is also worth keeping.

However crops still produce more profits at least from my experience. Not saying you shouldn't keep animals, pack animals alone pull their own weight, but it is probably safe to say the animals aren't going to be your main source of income.

[SievertChaser]

Originally posted by Païtiti:

Depends on your map actually. If you are for example in a temperate forest with year around (or close to it) growth phase then there is not much work involved. If you are on the other on a low growth map then you need to grow a stupid amount of food for your animals which is, just from my feeling without doing the math, totally not worth it.

There's really a difficulty cliff between Temperate and Tundra in that regard.

[Païtiti]

Originally posted by Kirus:

I find boomalopes to be worth keeping for their chemfuel. A few pack animals like the muffalo is also worth keeping.

However crops still produce more profits at least from my experience. Not saying you shouldn't keep animals, pack animals alone pull their own weight, but it is probably safe to say the animals aren't going to be your main source of income.

Vanilla maybe, modded you can easily become an animal breeder as some animals, devil sheep i'm looking at you, sell for silly amounts of money. Even vanilla horses sell for good money.

And don't forget the obligatory pig pen freezer for getting rid of raider corpses for infinite meat and leather production.

[brian_va]

Originally posted by Païtiti:

having 100 chicken

yeah, but you'll fill the freezer when you give in and slaughter them all.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by brian_va:

Originally posted by Païtiti:

having 100 chicken

yeah, but you'll fill the freezer when you give in and slaughter them all.

I had nearly two hundred chickens, since i was unlucky and did not get ANY decent trader for years, nor another character that joined my colony beside a single one, my two guys were basicly hauling rice most of the time and cooking eggs. I had a very good setup built everything well, but this chicken apocalypse just made me quit. Even killing them all does not help, as i was barely able to advance since my folks needed to...tend to them allmost all the time:)

[lumina]

Originally posted by Kirus:

I find boomalopes to be worth keeping for their chemfuel. A few pack animals like the muffalo is also worth keeping.

However crops still produce more profits at least from my experience. Not saying you shouldn't keep animals, pack animals alone pull their own weight, but it is probably safe to say the animals aren't going to be your main source of income.

I forgot I also always keep a few boomalopes. I keep the same sex though so they don't reproduce at all. Crops take a lot of attention if doing it for money. Leaving horses in a giant pen outside your base takes 0 additional effort (okay maybe a little with raiders and fires taking down fences) to get the money. At least if you are in a place with a long/year round growing season.

[Iridesence]

I named a colonist "billy" and just had him purely as the "chicken guy". his only job in the colony was to tend to, and maintain the chickens, so that the colony had a steady supply of meat and eggs. trading the work of 1 colonist for a cosntantly full freezer of chicken meat? worth it imo.