Not enough hay – Stardew Valley

I’m having trouble keeping up with the hay demand. I’ve got the whole farm cleared other than my crop plots, crafting areas, and stable. The rest of the farm (like 70% of the total area) is cleared with grass growing in like 5 separate patches. I farm the grass when I need it but only get a few days worth of hay- certainly not enough to stock up for winter.

I had to resort to selling two 5-heart chickens and two 5-heart cows to lower hay need. I now have a big coop and a big barn with 2 chickens, 2 ducks, 3 cows, 2 goats.

How does everyone else feed animals? Is there a more efficient way? I feel like I can’t keep up!

Three things you can do.

• Make a grass field that’s large enough to sustain itself. If you’ve got 70% of your farm area free, that’s plenty.
• Make a grass feeder (a patch of grass we prevent animals from eating – if they can’t stand on it, they can’t eat it). Grass spreads on its own provided it isn’t eaten first. Lay down grass starters & put fences on top of them. The grass underneath will remain unharmed, making new grass around it that the animals will eat.
• Buy hay from Marnie. You only ever need to do this in emergencies/if you’ve got an excess of money and want to use the space on the farm for something else.

I also have a patch on the farm where I grow grass away from animals exclusively to reload the silo with. Just do a quick calculation with the number of animals you have and you’ll be good.

Original Link – Continuation of discussion