Meat Farming

[mrwednesday]

So on my latest round, up to day 55 and I'm still relying on rabbits for meat. This is a pretty annoying option as morsels aren't really great compared to regular meat. In the process of penning in some beefalo (any advice on how to do this right?), and have also built some pig houses near my base camp, but I don't know an efficient way of turning them into a food source.

 

So any tips on what you may have done? I've got some farms and bee boxes up and running, but of course they don't help much during the winter. So I need a reliable and less time consuming method of farming meat.  Setting traps, murdering rabbits, etc., is just so damn tedious and not worth the reward, IMO.

[Aves Dominari]

I'm quite partial to frog farming, myself. It's quite situational, of course, but frog legs are one of my favorite food sources alongside honey and it's completely renewable.

[TeoSS69]

I hunt koalefants.

Beefalo could work too but you need a big herd to keep you stocked without the  going extinct. Pigs are only good if you have over abundance of monster meat.

[the truthseeker]

So on my latest round, up to day 55 and I'm still relying on rabbits for meat. This is a pretty annoying option as morsels aren't really great compared to regular meat. In the process of penning in some beefalo (any advice on how to do this right?), and have also built some pig houses near my base camp, but I don't know an efficient way of turning them into a food source.

 

So any tips on what you may have done? I've got some farms and bee boxes up and running, but of course they don't help much during the winter. So I need a reliable and less time consuming method of farming meat.  Setting traps, murdering rabbits, etc., is just so damn tedious and not worth the reward, IMO.

Make sure you use a crock pot. Even meatballs with their (about) 62.5 hunger per serving work well. If you are farming and/or harvesting berries, use one meat and three filler fruit/vegetables, saving the rare vegetables and fruit for the special recipes (dragon pie, cooking the eggplant on its own, etc.) 

 

Finally, seriously consider setting up bee boxes. The amount of honey you get is amazing, you can make taffy/pumpkin cookies, and one of the best items out there without having to spend too much on meat: honey ham!

 

 

(For your information: Honey ham takes 2 total meat.

This can be done with one regular meat or monster meat [remember to use only one monster meat or Durian fruit per cook-and never both in the same cook-or you'll make Monster Lasagna] and two morsels, then one honey.

Meaty stew is done with three total meat.

Unless you're herding pigs, Tallbirds  and/or Beefalo, is not as cost effective. However, if you want up to 150 hunger restored in one food, the occasional meaty stew is awesome. It's just more economical to put two meats or a meat and two morsels with a honey [and a non-twig filler if you use two full meats.])  

[TeoSS69]

Make sure you use a crock pot. Even meatballs with their (about) 62.5 hunger per serving work well. If you are farming and/or harvesting berries, use one meat and three filler fruit/vegetables, saving the rare vegetables and fruit for the special recipes (dragon pie, cooking the eggplant on its own, etc.) 

 

Finally, seriously consider setting up bee boxes. The amount of honey you get is amazing, you can make taffy/pumpkin cookies, and one of the best items out there without having to spend too much on meat: honey ham!

Did you read the OP at all? He's at day 55 so of course he has crockpots and he states at the end that he has bee boxes built. ._.

[mrwednesday]

Yes, I have a couple of crockpots and three bee boxes, and I've made all the aforementioned recipes. I just want to take the time-consuming collection of rabbits out of the picture and replace it with something with greater returns that takes less time. I want to spend more of the game exploring and building cool things, and less concentrating on making my damn meals.

[the truthseeker]

Yes, I have a couple of crockpots and three bee boxes, and I've made all the aforementioned recipes. I just want to take the time-consuming collection of rabbits out of the picture and replace it with something with greater returns that takes less time. I want to spend more of the game exploring and building cool things, and less concentrating on making my damn meals.

 

 

If I have an icebox (and gears can be tough to get that first season) I like to spend a day just consolidating/manuring/rotting my farms' growth and stockpiling food for later, then (after taking stuff like Bacon and Eggs for the journey,) go exploring topside/caves. There really isn't a better meat filler, so another thing you can do is take some aside time and build chests, harvesting rabbits for a later time, the come back and make meals later. This also works for summoning  Krampus. Short of "recycling" monster meat through birdcages/1 per crock pot, there really isn't a simple meat alternative in quantity short of having to build a pig village, then still waiting for the re-spawn, unless you're nearby a swamp where spiders and merms are constantly at war. Even then, the swamp yield isn't that high without spider eggs re-placement and often is hazardous to collect with swarms/tentacles. It really takes until the beginning of the third season of selective crop farming/stockpiling and crafting foods in multiple crock pots/iceboxes before other options show up besides those damn rabbits. 

 

 

Or if near ponds, you can trap frogs, but isn't this the same thing with different animals?

 

When I got sick of rabbit harvesting (because it was the one thing not close to my base once,) I started trapping birds instead as well as using ranged weapons on them. 

 

I hope this helps and remember to take advantage of the resources you have in multiple ways when possible! 

[pwhampton]

I play a custom vegetarian character so meat farming is not an option. For winter I have 8 bee boxes ready for harvest, and a massive underground farm with a bird cage included. Two things of bat poo will allow for fast food. Just got the belt of hunger too, so I do not have to worry about having as much food now.

[Iris]

Kill beefalo if you have a large enough herd. My world has two large savannas filled with beefalo, so theyre my main food source. Also, go hunt koalefants.

[Sotanaht]

Monster meat and honey are my only major food sources after I migrate away from using berries.  I sometimes get meat from werepigs when I feed them the excess monster meat but that's mostly a bonus while farming pig skins or disposing of spoiled monster meat.

 

Honey nuggets might not be efficient in terms of calories per food input, but I consider the calories from monster meat by itself to be a big fat ZERO since the stuff is not safely edible so making it into honey nuggets is a benefit over just eating honey alone.  I don't have any real meat to make into hams most of the time and I have essentially infinite honey.

[Nebulous]

In my longest-running world I get all of my meat from treeguards and koalafant.

 

Yes, treeguards. Indirectly. I plant a stack of pine cones in the pig village, use monster meat to hire pigs for chopping, spawn treeguards (every other stack, on average), profit. My pig village isn't big enough to tackle two treeguards at once so I just come back every three days to collect until the treeguards finally fall. And then I do it again.

 

Downside, I have so many danged logs...

[the truthseeker]

When you get more monster meat from treeguards than spiders you got a hardcore world  

[jangofet]

Have you tried simply putting a spider nest directly IN a pig village? That usually works, just step on the web, step off, and watch the war. Just try to pick up any meat before a spider or pig eats it.

 

If you have a sinkhole near your pig village, that works as well as you get free bat wings.

[zazori]

Having meat isn't difficult.You can always make a spider farm,but I think hunting koalefants is funnier,and the amount of meat it drops is ridiculous(seriously,it's OP).

Hint:is easier to hunt it on the savanna.

[mrwednesday]

Have you tried simply putting a spider nest directly IN a pig village? That usually works, just step on the web, step off, and watch the war. Just try to pick up any meat before a spider or pig eats it.

 

If you have a sinkhole near your pig village, that works as well as you get free bat wings.

 

I have, but it's inefficient because I'm not good at snatching stuff before either the pigs or spiders eat it. Last game I had a five pig pig village built and a few webs next to it. Unfortunately, the spiders were way more prolific than the pigs.

[mrwednesday]

I play a custom vegetarian character so meat farming is not an option. For winter I have 8 bee boxes ready for harvest, and a massive underground farm with a bird cage included. Two things of bat poo will allow for fast food. Just got the belt of hunger too, so I do not have to worry about having as much food now.

 

How do you maintain and manage and manage an underground farm with no daylight? Are you running with firepits or lanterns?

[TeoSS69]

How do you maintain and manage and manage an underground farm with no daylight? Are you running with firepits or lanterns?

There are zones in the caves that get light from the ceiling. Coupling that with the fact that there's no winter in caves, makes you able to have working farms down there.

[the truthseeker]

There are zones in the caves that get light from the ceiling. Coupling that with the fact that there's no winter in caves, makes you able to have working farms down there.

As well as using Guano (and sometimes manure) to force grow farms. However, it seems that Batalisks may be limited in number, so don't kill them all.

[TeoSS69]

As well as using Guano (and sometimes manure) to force grow farms. However, it seems that Batalisks may be limited in number, so don't kill them all.

At this point i only use guano to fertilize farms once they run out and have two pigs to turn my berries in manure for power farming.

 

[dancness]

Here's what I do to farm meat from pigs:

1. Feed pig 1 small jerky or cooked morsel

2. Lead pig through your tooth trap field

3. Pick up meat/pigskin

Alternatively you can feed a pig 4 monster jerkies, throw on your football helmet and log suit, and tank him for 2 meats and a pigskin.

Recommended you lure 1 pig at a time away from the rest if you plan on attacking him directly. However the tooth trap tactic works great for multiple pigs.

[zazori]

I have, but it's inefficient because I'm not good at snatching stuff before either the pigs or spiders eat it. Last game I had a five pig pig village built and a few webs next to it. Unfortunately, the spiders were way more prolific than the pigs.

Try surrounding (a single den) with bunny hutches,they won't eat the meat and because they go back to home with the daylight you can easily harvest.

[pwhampton]

How do you maintain and manage and manage an underground farm with no daylight? Are you running with firepits or lanterns?

 

I actually throw a few nightmare fuel on a nightlight and run off to do some caving while they sit there. Since there are times of day in caves, the night light allows them to keep growing when the night comes. As for bat poo, you can do a suicide kite, run through a cave with lots of bats, die, and come back to collect the hoard of poo. Also, just farm beefalo poo during the summer to have a nice stack. Also since you live by a cave -theoretically-, there are plenty of bats to farm each night.

[gnarlytreeman]

treeguards in a pig village hmm? perhaps bunnies and merms? 

[syrioforel]

Tallbirds drop 2 meat (and the egg!), and are easy to kill cheaply with log suit + spear given a little practice; you can get two hits in at a time.

[cattafett]

Here's what I do to farm meat from pigs:

1. Feed pig 1 small jerky or cooked morsel

2. Lead pig through your tooth trap field

3. Pick up meat/pigskin

Alternatively you can feed a pig 4 monster jerkies, throw on your football helmet and log suit, and tank him for 2 meats and a pigskin.

Recommended you lure 1 pig at a time away from the rest if you plan on attacking him directly. However the tooth trap tactic works great for multiple pigs.

an easier/safer way to do this is have a largeish (at least four or more houses) pig village, give one monster meat to pig A then give four monster meat to pig B

while pig B is turning order pig A to attack it 

pig B/wearpig will then hit pig A back at which point the rest of the village will make short work of of him and you get two meat and a pig skin