What allows a field to be used as pasture? I’ve tried a number of different methods but cannot figure it out. Sometimes it’s allowed on new field, sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes grain crops allow some random squares of a field to be used, but are quickly disqualified again. A lot of people say clover but that hasn’t worked for me.
Only thing I did figure out is 1) after a field is deleted it cannot be used as pasture until the beginning of the next year and 2) fields added to an existing field seem to ignore whatever this mechanic is.
I use fields of 5x10. If I set 2 adjacent fields on growing clover at the same time, I can move my herd over there. If I have only one field with clover, I can still move my herd over, but they’ll only fertilize the clover field, not the other.
This is either a bug (I reported it as a bug at Cows unable to graze on fields?) or there is something very opaque about the intended systems interaction between fields and grazing, because I’m having the same issue. 10x10 field full of clover, looks delicious for cows, but the whole field just shows solid RED and the herd refuses to acknowledge it as a valid grazing location. Sometimes it is randomly red/green checkerboard and I have no idea what that means, but it quickly reverts to solid red.
I’m not sure, but would you let your cows graze on a field you want to grow crops on? I’ve fenced off an area without a field on it and they’re happy on it
I believe it is an intended interaction? Cows grazing on a field (when it works) raises that field’s fertility, and it seems to be exactly what the harvestless “clover” crop is designed for…
isn’t the idea to let the clover finish growing, then dying, so the nitrogen from the clover/roots gets released into the soil, acting as a fertilizer? i would assume having animals eat the clover would even be detrimental, but i may be mislead.
I’m just saying that you can observe in-game the fertility boost from a herd grazing on a field (when you can actually get it to work). Even if it’s not clovers — for example, if you accidentally leave your herd out there and they eat a “real” crop of leeks or wheat etc, the grazing seems to help the fertility rating of the field.
I thought that you had to place your farm near fertile ground and choose that fertile ground for your grazing plot for cows (the same way you choose a fertile spot to plant crops) … no?
I just eventually found it yesterday.
My pastures are poorly fertilizing. Nothing i grow i get to harvest half of it. When i put cows to graze on them, they start going down in health, as if its not available for grazing. But even so, doing that for a couple months increases the fertilizing factor.
I think thats the deal, but so far its been a little confusing to do because its just not clear enough.
The issue is I’m not allowed to set the field as pasture regardless of what I do. I set multiple years of clover to test this and it made no difference.
The cows passively increase fertility wherever they graze. Leave them on one spot of open fodder land and after a few years you’ll notice that square has ~85% fertility.
And yes, personally I’d prefer that cattle didn’t graze on my fields, but to each their own.
When your placing the barn for construction if you mouse over a tree or stone it shows up the fertility numbers for that barn placement and the fodder % that you will get, so yes I think placement is important for the barn and no you don’t need to plant clover as I haven’t planted any at all and my cows are happy eating my 84% grazing fodder.
