I need more cattle

[Olvirki]

I am in a bad situation. Sorry if this has been asked before.

I have way to few cows. I am on my second try and slaughtered live stock to avert famine and then payed cows to get 30 captured people back.

I have just 585 cows and 977 people. Its 1351. I have three close by allies, three rather close trading partners and I am feuding with two clans. One is nearby, the Stag Hearths, and one is far off, so I don't have to deal with the latter. I have 23 weaponsthanes.

No matter how many cattleraids I do and how much trading I do my clan just seems to chum on them. I am doing alright in war, I lose a few cows to raids and cattle raids but I often inflict great casualties on the damn Stag Hearths and others without losing too many men. I also have good fortifacations

I lose 11 cows a year shrine and temple maintainence+goods worth 22 cows. Last year I got 116 cow-worth of goods from the market.

I am also not producing enough food, forcing me to buy food of my neighbors for goods and even horses.

Maybe I should buy as many cows as I can, get more weaponthanes and do more fullblown raids on the Stag Hearths? Maybe I get lucky and capture their clan-members and can trade them back?

Maybe I should put more farmers into my cows? My fields can support my (very few) cows but maybe they are slaughtering them when they get too many?

[steelcoresoviet]

You're in a bad way.

one of the things you can do is learn Barntar's blessing, which allows cows to work harder. This costs cows, but lets you act if you have more.

once you have enough food, you can begin trading for greater profits.

[zaiux1]

I usually keep a Uralda worshiper on my clan ring and I try to do the Uralda Heroquest early in the game. Also, build a Uralda temple.

[76561198322429733]

I don't really consider your amount of cows worrisome as cows are easy enough to acquire. Make sure you have enough "pasture" land for your cows as this can limit how many cows you get and leave them alone (means no selling/killing) and the numbers should go up by their own. Cattleraid is also a very profitable way to get cows with minimal risk. If you are butchering your cows for food, now THAT is a problem that I suggest focusing on.

Ernalda Feeds The Tribe is one of the easiest heroquest in the game, granted that you have an Ernalda worshiper. It gives you a bonus to crops (along with the normal bonuses you get from HQs)

After finishing it, you can easily do it once every two years. During desperate food times, I generally tend to abuse it and do it once a year.

I also suggest turning your clan into a peace clan if you are having difficulty with crops and cows as they give you more options to spend on cows and crops during sacred time.

Oh, and, Maran Gor, best shrine blessing in the game.