keeping animals in general seems worthless

[Nox]

Just did an extended test - as your population grows the birth rate of animals doesn't grow (same problem as population has where birth rate seems nonlinear)

Raising cattle takes a lot of real estate and the net result of it seems marginal at best. I tested having 4 barns with a cap on population at 30 with cattle, and I got like maybe 8-12 meat per season on average . that's useless.

to survive with a village that has 150-200 people I end up having to go lasso huge groups of wild animals and killing probably 80-120 animals each 4 seasons.

I stand by my earlier statement that animals do not give enough meat per.

[meraco]

That is because Cattle reproduces slowly. Try sheep, goats, and pigs for much faster birth rate and higher meat yield..

[aquaricorn]

Yeah, I'd say cows are probably good in smaller numbers. But keeping in mind you can fish and farm (and with more animals you'll need more straw) your meat sources might just need to be a smaller portion of the late-game diet. Hell in copper in my second village I had a hell of a hard time growing enough straw to feed just 30 animals.

[Mk Z]

cattle is for milk, not meat. it yields 2 milk per milking, not sure how much during the year (2-4?)
skins are nice too. to increase the % of female cows i kill down every adult bull and old cows before the winter. maybe young bulls should be killed too? does the number of bulls affect birth rates? IRL only 1 is needed per hundred or so, afaik.

[RavensDaemon]

If you are relaying on meat to survive then you are doing it wrong.

[HEAVY FIRST RATE]

As in real life, sheep, goats and pigs have a much shorter turn over time as a food supply. Cattle as a primary food source is only viable as a mass production effort or if say dairying is employed before slaughtering, which, is not represented in this game. Same would be true if you used donkeys or horses for the same purpose. The more offspring an animal produces each gestation cycle, the more reliable it will be as a food source.

[gargamont]

Why is it that you can buy livestock from the traders but you can't sell livestock to them? It seems like that would make keeping livestock much more appealing.

[Ichzilla]

get goats, my barns give me about 90-100 pop for animals i spend all spring/summer wiping out all my old dogs/goat/sheeps cause every 2 kills of sheep/goat i get notified of 4+ births. so the spam of lack of living space for livestock is always on screen. i had mass death do to lack of fodder one winter lost about 20 goats/sheeps and come spring 70% was replaced.. you can honestly maintain some meat stocks by just killing most of the old/adult males. as you really only need 1-4 males per 8 females. its typically enough to repop as they age. pigs will give the most meat though. least from what i have seen but for something on par with a DF cat boom just tame goats.... you will hate it come spring.... more so once you reach 20 pop i barely go below 40 goats.

[onebit]

100 pop, 15 sheep, 20 pigs, 10 horses. plenty of meat, hide, and carts.

[Anelyn]

I can't see how anyone past mid game would have meat problems if you have mixed food resources. I always end up with tons of meat from just domestic animals no hunting, because I also have fruits, vegetables, milk, bread, fish. People will eat what is more decayed, they don't have needs for specific food types.

[Vektim]

Originally posted by gargamont:

Why is it that you can buy livestock from the traders but you can't sell livestock to them? It seems like that would make keeping livestock much more appealing.

OHMGODYES. i was so confused.

[Kitty]

each animal has its bonuses and negatives. Cattle is slow to reproduce, but gives the most milk. Goat gives less milk, but reproduces faster so better source of meat for your milkers. Pigs reproduce the fastest and if you want a stable meat economy pigs will give you the best meat economy. Sheep are for wool, and average reproduction speed.

[HEAVY FIRST RATE]

When you set cap for all your livestock and build stables for that number, build one extra stable. Your villagers will still maintain your cap settings but because you have extra stable room, the "no room in the stables" message will stop popping up because the villagers will butcher animals to the limits you set long before occupation limit of spare stable is reached. It worked for me anyhow!

[jwinter]

But you also get grain from those fields you grow straw or vice versa you get straw as a waste product of growing grain. That alone is good source of food but you can utilize the straw to get extra food. It is more about balance. Going extreme with only one type of food is not how the game works.

[Nrk_Saltshaker]

Even with a full tech tree, my food economy never stopped acting like crazy until I sent some guys for fishing, some for hunting (even if unnecessary) and planted some trees & peas alongside with my %50 pig %50 sheep population. than everything become balanced.

[BarbeQ]

There is probably a reason why people from the time periods this game portrays used a broad range of food resources. Mass production and monocultures were not used/invendet yet and many things were much more depending on seasons and local conditions. Imho, the game does a quite good job in recreating this. You are forced to spread and adapt. Like our ancestors had to.