Why wont my butcher use these Emu corpses?

[Nepsis]

So I decided that I wanted some bone.

I didn't have any hunters, so I assigned some dwarves to a squad and sent them out to kill the local emu population. Now all the Emus are dead, but nobody is butchering the corpses, and I'm not sure why.

[LastChime]

Probably mangled corpses, they need fresh ones to butcher, when it rots fully they might come and smash up the skeleton into bones for you though

The dorfs will eat cats....but they'll only eat halal cats

[AlP]

Originally posted by FairyOverlord:

So I decided that I wanted some bone.

I didn't have any hunters, so I assigned some dwarves to a squad and sent them out to kill the local emu population. Now all the Emus are dead, but nobody is butchering the corpses, and I'm not sure why.

What happens when you create a task to butcher an animal?

[Morkonan]

AFAIK, and that ain't far so I could certainly be wrong about this, Butchering can't be automatically done until the corpse is hauled to a Butcher-serving workshop/spot/stockpile and that can't be done for an animal that was not "Hunted," which requires a Hunter to do, and which then qualifies the hunted animal corpse to fill the Butcher's request for such corpses. (I could be wrong, but that's how I understand how most jobs get triggered.)

It might be possible to create a corpse/dump stockpile in one that is directly linked to the Butcher and then haul the corpses there... maybe? Let them drag it here, then delete the dump/unforbid it?

[AlP]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

AFAIK, and that ain't far so I could certainly be wrong about this, Butchering can't be automatically done until the corpse is hauled to a Butcher-serving workshop/spot/stockpile and that can't be done for an animal that was not "Hunted," which requires a Hunter to do, and which then qualifies the hunted animal corpse to fill the Butcher's request for such corpses. (I could be wrong, but that's how I understand how most jobs get triggered.)

It might be possible to create a corpse/dump stockpile in one that is directly linked to the Butcher and then haul the corpses there... maybe? Let them drag it here, then delete the dump/unforbid it?

Again, literally nothing in the entire game requires a stockpile to function.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by AlP:

...
Again, literally nothing in the entire game requires a stockpile to function.

It's more about the process of how a hunted animal gets to the butchering workshop. I tried to indicate that I was not sure of the area it had to be taken to, just that specific jobs had to be triggered to yield that result, that's all.

Can an animal corpse that was not "hunted" be butchered? If so, how does that work? I know that FB's/similar can be butchered, but I'm not sure of that process either.

[AlP]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by AlP:

...
Again, literally nothing in the entire game requires a stockpile to function.

It's more about the process of how a hunted animal gets to the butchering workshop. I tried to indicate that I was not sure of the area it had to be taken to, just that specific jobs had to be triggered to yield that result, that's all.

Can an animal corpse that was not "hunted" be butchered? If so, how does that work? I know that FB's/similar can be butchered, but I'm not sure of that process either.

The butcher's shop constantly searches for butcherable corpses in a short radius. As long as it finds something valid, it will be queued for butchering. The corpse doesn't have to be in a stockpile or anything, it just needs to be butcherable/unforbidden/unclaimed etc.

If the corpse is outside that short radius, you have to create a task manually, and it will be found and butchered just as well.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by AlP:

.. it just needs to be butcherable/unforbidden/unclaimed etc.

If the corpse is outside that short radius, you have to create a task manually, and it will be found and butchered just as well.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Butcher#Butchering

So, if a refuse stockpile was put within 20? (edit) tiles of a Butcher (OR they were otherwise within that range from the butcher) and, under standing orders, gather refuse was enabled and dorfs could gather the corpses and take them to that stockpile fast enough, and the butcher wasn't overloaded, then... the corpses should be expected to be butchered before they rotted as long as they were of the allowed type? (As I interpret it, at least.) :)

I think most of the issues I've had with non-hunted corpses not being butchered were due to them being out of range. I haven't had any miasma issues around my butchers, which leads me to believe they're at least getting the jobs done before a corpse could rot. (I assume)

On "Manually" - Would that be using the Tame animal butchering feature or some "corpse specific" option in a dialogue? (like "click to send to the butcher" sort of thing?)

[AlP]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by AlP:

.. it just needs to be butcherable/unforbidden/unclaimed etc.

If the corpse is outside that short radius, you have to create a task manually, and it will be found and butchered just as well.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Butcher#Butchering

So, if a refuse stockpile was put within 43 tiles of a Butcher (OR they were otherwise within that range from the butcher) and, under standing orders, gather refuse was enabled and dorfs could gather the corpses and take them to that stockpile fast enough, and the butcher wasn't overloaded, then... the corpses should be expected to be butchered before they rotted as long as they were of the allowed type? (As I interpret it, at least.) :)

I think most of the issues I've had with non-hunted corpses not being butchered were due to them being out of range. I haven't had any miasma issues around my butchers, which leads me to believe they're at least getting the jobs done before a corpse could rot. (I assume)

Yeah, that's the idea.

Originally posted by Morkonan:

On "Manually" - Would that be using the Tame animal butchering feature or some "corpse specific" option in a dialogue? (like "click to send to the butcher" sort of thing?)

Manually is clicking on the butcher's shop and clicking "butcher an animal".

[Other]

If the corpses are outside, the "dwarves ignore outdoor refuse" standing order might be tripping you up. You also might have had the "forbid enemy corpses" order turned on when they died, which will forbid (lock) the body until the player reverses that. That order applies, or not, when the creature dies, so flipping the order won't help once they are dead, you need to find the corpse, click on it, and click the little "lock" icon on the card so it no longer has a white outline.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by AlP:

...
Manually is clicking on the butcher's shop and clicking "butcher an animal".

Thanks! (Never used that feature, just always butchered from the pet/animal dialogue.)