Do I need pens for my animals? :: Stardew Valley General Discussions

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cobblestone100mc Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:04am

Do I need pens for my animals?

I've been making stone fence pens for my animals for a long time now, and I've been wondering: Do I really need animal pens? I may just be a huge buffoon.

Last edited by cobblestone100mc; Oct 28, 2020 @ 9:40am

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Originally posted by rlambot:

No, unless you want to control where they wander although they go looking for grass so having some near the barns tends to limit their movement anyway. That said, I quite like having pens for the aesthetics of how my farms look.

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Showing 1-15 of 26 comments

MightyJean has Stardew Valley

Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:31am

You don't need them, animal can't wander off the farm, but it may be useful to keep them close to the barn/coop especially if you let the door open all day long (meaning they'll be out when you wake up, if they're scattered across the whole farm petting them may take ages).

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rlambot

Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:31am

Last edited by rlambot; Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:31am

cobblestone100mc Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:40am

Thank you! You just saved me so much time and space and stone!

cobblestone100mc Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:46am

Originally posted by MightyJean:
You don't need them, animal can't wander off the farm, but it may be useful to keep them close to the barn/coop especially if you let the door open all day long (meaning they'll be out when you wake up, if they're scattered across the whole farm petting them may take ages).

yeah, there's that too... I may just make a huge box around my current farm with grass and fences. Or I could just pet them when they start to come to the barn/coop at 4 or 5 (i cant remember which time)

Last edited by cobblestone100mc; Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:49am

ChrillBill has Stardew Valley

Oct 27, 2020 @ 9:59am

They can wander off really far even if they have grass nearby, which may result in them not returning to their coop/barn and by that they end up sleeping outside. This has happened to me on several occasions. Having animals sleeping outside is risky because they can be attacked by wild animals during the night. The attacked animal will disappear and the other animals will have a negative message box saying they are feeling paranoid and stressed because of something "bad" that happened during the night. Also if you have pigs it can be a real struggle to find truffles if they are roaming around all over the place. Just a heads up.

cobblestone100mc Oct 27, 2020 @ 10:03am

Originally posted by ChrillBill:
They can wander off really far even if they have grass nearby, which may result in them not returning to their coop/barn and by that they end up sleeping outside. This has happened to me on several occasions. Having animals sleeping outside is risky because they can be attacked by wild animals during the night. The attacked animal will disappear and the other animals will have a negative message box saying they are feeling paranoid and stressed because of something "bad" that happened during the night. Also if you have pigs it can be a real struggle to find truffles if they are roaming around all over the place. Just a heads up.

Alright. I will build a large stone fence box very soon. Also do cows eat grass or only hay? My cow has only been eating hay, and they have access to grass. If they eat grass, my cow might be stuck in winter.

cobblestone100mc Oct 27, 2020 @ 10:07am

Side Question: What fence should I use? Stone seems pretty good, but is iron worth it? It might not be, considering it needs iron bars, but then again iron is pretty easy to get; either through transmutation, or just smelting.

cobblestone100mc Oct 27, 2020 @ 10:20am

Originally posted by red255:
Originally posted by idiotic mvm player:
Side Question: What fence should I use? Stone seems pretty good, but is iron worth it? It might not be, considering it needs iron bars, but then again iron is pretty easy to get; either through transmutation, or just smelting.

Tea bush, lasts forever, looks nice, can't be walked thru, line your pens with tea plants, except the gates which you make out of hardwood and then turn into gates.

How do I get tea bushes? lol

ChrillBill has Stardew Valley

Oct 27, 2020 @ 10:45am

As far as I know they all eat grass. The hardwood fence lasts for a very long time (I think a couple of years or so) but sure, you can also use tea bushes or why not lightning rods which was suggested in another thread recently. Up to you. You can get tea saplings from the traveling cart but to tell the truth it doesn't happen very often at all. The best way is to get the recipe from Caroline after her 2-heart event (you get it in the mail the day after the event).

MightyJean has Stardew Valley

Oct 27, 2020 @ 12:35pm

Originally posted by ChrillBill:
The hardwood fence lasts for a very long time (I think a couple of years or so)

I wasn't entirely sure so I checked the wiki and it states 558 to 562 days, so 5 years. That's as good as any other solution when it comes to fencing unless you know you'll play way more than 5 years.
Even then it's not that annoying and you'll get more than enough hardwood in the meantime to replace them.

For the record, iron fences last 248 to 252 days, stone 118-122 and wood 54-58.

#10

cobblestone100mc Oct 27, 2020 @ 12:55pm

Originally posted by MightyJean:
Originally posted by ChrillBill:
The hardwood fence lasts for a very long time (I think a couple of years or so)
I wasn't entirely sure so I checked the wiki and it states 558 to 562 days, so 5 years. That's as good as any other solution when it comes to fencing unless you know you'll play way more than 5 years.
Even then it's not that annoying and you'll get more than enough hardwood in the meantime to replace them.

For the record, iron fences last 248 to 252 days, stone 118-122 and wood 54-58.

thank you! ill upgrade my axe to steel soon so i can get more hardwood plus a renewable source of it.

#11

ChrillBill has Stardew Valley

Oct 27, 2020 @ 2:46pm

Wow, had no idea hardwood fence lasted THAT long!

About the hardwood. The lumberjack profession (level 10 foraging skill) makes it so that all trees have a chance to drop hardwood as well. Not that it is hard to come by without it, especially if you use the forest map. But just a tip if you don't have that and don't want to run back and forth to the secret woods everyday. Personally I aquired A LOT of hardwood using the lumberjack profession before switching to botanist which I usually prefer ^.^

#12