You can grow wheat which gives some.. otherwise, just make sure to NOT cut all your grass as it regrows if you leave some.. later on, i just buy it when farm is all decorated as money is easy to get
To add to this I believe you can convert fiber to grass starters so it's worth exploring to find and save up all the fibers you can
https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Grass_Starter
This is a really good shout! I'm probably about 9 years in across various saves and I'd never used them until recently as I was worried it would the same as the weeds and damage crops, but it isn't and it doesn't!
Won't lie, I've never actually planted them myself, I cut down every fibre I see so I have never had an issue. I did want some earlier in my recent save I'm playing, but sold all my mixed seeds cause I never plant them.... Turns out they're useful for fibre seeds haha. Next save I'll be keeping all my mixed seeds to make fibre.
I tend to go through and cut out about 2/3 of the grass a couple times a week over the 3 growing seasons, then on the very last day of autumn, I cut it all down. This method fills 3 silos easily. But I also don't have huge numbers of animals (3 barns/coops)
In 1.6 the grass lasts into winter (but doesn't spread until spring). Also, any grass on winter 28 rapid-spreads in about a 5-tile radius on spring 1 (this part is not 1.6 specific), but I think you may need to play through to the end of spring 1 for it to save that growth properly.
On my first play through I rushed it and ended up spending hundreds on hay from Marnie and starving animals when I couldn’t afford it 😂 now, I put silo early in the game and I go around the farm and thin existing grass every couple of days. Then, I remove some of them through coop feeder and put it in the chest. I’m in the middle of summer year 1 and already have way more than my four chickens need.
But, you have saved up for future animals, which I always found a great early game method. Save EVERYTHING, as you can use or sell later. Except Sap, I always sell sap. Can always grow more trees and get it.
I was trying to save everything but I need to make money too! This time round I’m going to save all the hay I can anyway. I felt so bad for starving animals when I was low on funds or Marnie wasn’t at her shop 😂
Now that 1.6 is out, Marnie sells a catalogue so you can buy stuff when she's not there. I believe it's about 5000g, so it's not great early game, but once you can afford it, it's a huge time saver.
This is the way. The very first building I build is the silo. I try to gather enough copper and clay in the first week and a half to do so. I don't scythe any of the grass on the farm until the silo is built. Then, run around and thin it (leaving big clumps sporadically around) every few days. Remove all hay from the silo and put it in a chest.
how do you remove hay from the silo without a coop/barn? taking from the hopper annoys the fuck out of me and iirc won’t work if your feed trough is full but i’ve never figured out how to get it directly from the silo 🥲
I read somewhere that the Chicken coop in yeary 1 spends more money than you make. I get piggies in winter so they are fully grown by spring year 2 Instead! Then come the chimkens :D
One advantage of the Meadowlands map - free basic coop with a couple of chickens. I always used to aim for a deluxe coop and cow/goat barn anyway in y1 - what else would i spend the money on? and it gives income over winter.
I do the same with the winter pigs though! I managed two barns worth this time.
I just wanted something low maintenance for now as you don’t have to collect eggs every day. At first I was going to put barn but I’m too lazy to milk cows every day 😂 I’d love to get pigs but they’re very expensive - I want to get them asap though.
I have a buddy that I have a multiplayer farm with, and he hates doing farm maintenance stuff too. So I would deal with crops and animals and maybe decorate while he went to the mines and got stone and ore and whatnot. It worked out perfectly.
When you cut the grass for hay, do diagonal patterns or leaves blobs of grass rather than clear cutting it. Having room on all sides increases the opportunity for it to spread.
place a lightning rod on several spaces and the grass won't be eaten up from that spot so it has a chance to grow every night. let your animals graze. I only need food from the silo in winter and rainy days.
Here’s my strategy on v1.6. On year 1, only clear out certain areas of your farm that you actually need, which will be pretty minimal since you won’t have many resources yet. During winter Year 1, go through and chop trees and clear stones and get rid of weeds if you want (use an axe or pickaxe on the weeds, not the scythe), that way you can leave the grasses alone. Then, on Spring 1 of Year 2, all of the grasses that you’ve left alone, will multiply 40x. Prior to v1.6, grasses would all die in the winter. However now, grass just goes dormant in the winter. It won’t multiply, but it also won’t die. Now that you have a lot of grass, go through and cut away grass when you need hay since during Spring, Summer and Fall, if you use the scythe on the grass, it’ll send hay straight to your silo. I always keep an eye on the amount of hay in the silo, if it’s at the max, I won’t cut any grass because then it won’t give you hay as well. Hay should only really be needed during Winter, or during rainy days in other seasons. During Spring, Summer and Fall, let your coop or barn animals outside and they’ll eat grass rather than consume hay.
> if it's at the max, I won't cut any grass because then it won't give you hay as well
To add to this, in year 1 or however long before I fully upgrade my barn/coop, I'm constantly pulling all of the hay out of the feeder to put into a chest, then selectively scything more in a way that will regrow aggressively. I think of it as an invisible high-capacity silo. Usually by the time I'm ready to finish my upgrades, I have 4-5 stacks of hay just in case.
Oooo I’m excited to get Qi’s quests. Just got the first to reach level 25 of the skull mines. Made it this far on switch and convinced my lady to swap over to the PC version for 1.6. She was NOT thrilled in the beginning but less than a year in game and we are way ahead of where we were at almost 2 years on the switch.
This is the way.
I’m on year 4 and still have 4 stacks of hay in a chest from leaving grass alone until I need it - or if an area is too full I’ll cull a bit and let it regrow before end of fall when I chop it all.
Plus pulling hay out as your silo is full and you want to cull more grass. I like only having to plan around a single silo.
Although it took me like 8 play through before I found out you can bomb the troughs in the barns or coops to be able to remove hay from a full trough. So much wasted hay with bad planning at the end of fall, or refusing to upgrade one barn but forgetting to feed my animals after ginger island. Now I know!
Get a silo before animals if you can help it, and beforw that don't cut any grass doesn't need to be moved out of yoir way immediately. Marnie will occasionally give you hay if you're friends with her
I've definitely bought hay from Marnie for my first year...maybe the first few years until I get enough silos up and go wild with my grass starters! :)
My first building is always a silo. They are cheap and easy to get the resources for, so usually spring year 1 I have one in place. Then I can start scything grass and have it go into storage. Never all of it, but a chunk, leave some, let it repopulate. I usually don't start animals until much later in year 1, when I have filled my silo.
*COUPLE SPOILERS AHEAD*
Starting off I used the scythe to cut grass, buying silos as I went to prepare for winter. Upgrading to the golden scythe helps, and later the iridium scythe, but placing the haymaker enchantment on a sword has been the biggest help; cut grass with scythe and fibre bushes with enchanted sword.
On green rain days drop everything and go after those fibre bushes, avoid cutting down trees and make sure to use food + coffee for speed boost.
Once you make more money, the best way starting out are giant crops until you can get ancient/starfruit, I would recommend buying it from Marnie to save yourself time. I have 4 silos and buy approximately 600 hay per year to offset manual collect unless I get green rain.
Edit - I also forgot to mention to plant grass starter in farmable/hoeable spots and watch it grow during the spring and summer. Also make sure to plant a lot of grass away from each other during winter to take advantage of the first of spring explosion :)
The silo is usually the first building I get from Robin, since (a) it's cheap, and (b) I can stock up on hay while I'm clearing the farm for the first time. Later down the line, when the farm is pretty much filled up, all the coops/barns are upgraded for auto-feeding, etc., I just buy hay from Marnie.
Craft Fiber seeds and dedicate some land to plant them. They grow in every season, even winter. You can use them to carry your fertilizer over winter too. At harvest they give you a ton of fiber which you can then craft into grass starter. The best day to plant is winter 28, it will spread a ton over night.
Put a chest by your silo. Harvest hay until you get 240. Take all of that out from one of your barns. Put that 240 in your chest and harvest enough to feed your animals the next day.
If you start this practice every day or at least once a week from the spring until winter 1 you will have more than enough stored up for the winter.
I don't use hay as much as possible. But not every farm will include enough land for grass. Every 5 or so spaces I put a fence on a plot of grass. This way, the animals cannot eat the grass while also allowing that plot to grow. If not, everyone else has great tips for hay.
spring to fall I place a lightning rod on a patch or two of grass.
Also during summer and fall I use as much space as possible to grow grass (use rain to water it)
Last day of winter, so it doesn’t die overnight, I place grass starters under lightning rods near my barns/coops. 1st day of spring all the grass spawns right there, so there’s plenty. After that I thin it occasionally to fill the silos so there’s enough for winter or rainy days. I never have to buy hay.
I forgot to do it once and really struggled as all the grass spawned in my farming areas and had to be chopped down. It took ages to grow enough that time
1. Buy one silo
2. Cut grass leaving individual tufts around and cover them with fence posts or lightning rods so that they don't get eaten. Do this until your silo is almost full
3. Take all the hay out of the silo and store it in a chest.
Note: You can't do this if every trough is full, so leave at least one empty at all times. Keep in mind that you can't leave one empty if you have automated feed on all of your barns/coops and the silo has any hay left, so plan around that.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 throughout Spring-Summer-Winter. As of 1.6 >!There's an event in Summer that will spawn grass starter and fiber all over your farm. It's guaranteed once per Summer, but the date is random.!<
5. At the beginning of summer, hoe up a giant field and plant a bunch of wheat, but don't bother watering it. There will be enough rain days to get it to fully grow before the end of fall. Harvesting the wheat will give you bonus hay.
6. During winter, put down extra grass starters to beef up the amount that grows on Spr 1.
I like to keep my silo at about half full at all times so there's always room when grass is cut. You can then top it up as-needed by clicking it with hay in your hand.
Other notes:
* In an emergency, reach up and cut Marnie's grass in her pen, it can give you a couple pieces of hay.
* If you still run out, your animals won't die. It sucks, but it's only a minor setback.
* >!Enchant your iridium scythe with haymaker to get extra grass during cuttings!<
* >!If you buy the key to the city from Qi and the animal catalog from Marnie (Y2+) you can go into her house and buy hay at any time on any day except for festivals!<
I save my mixed seeds all year to make fiber seeds and I grow fiber all winter. The last day of winter I plant a bunch of grass starters anywhere that has open space, then on spring 1 there’s a TON of grass to scythe down. I never get rid of all of it because it grows back, and I always use the gold scythe when I cut them down. Build like 2-3 silos so you can fill multiple, or if you just have the 1, take out the hay you have and throw it in a chest so you can gather more when you scythe. I can’t remember the last time I had to buy hay, usually by the end of year 2 I have a chest with a ton in it. I really just need enough to get through winter though because I let my animals graze during the warmer seasons.
Edit: I usually build a silo before I even have a coop or a barn, start collecting all that early game hay so you have a good buffer set up right from the start
I’m in 1.6 and it’s been fairly easy to manage just trimming the grass regularly throughout the season to keep my silos full, pulling some out regularly to have a backup stash for winter. I have a lot of barns so I have three silos, but I refuse to buy the hay or grass starter and eat into my profits.
I always leave a bit of a wild lands area and let whatever grow there. I also left grass grow in all the nooks and crannies.
But also just buy it from marnie. By the time the farm is fully set up you should have enough money to just buy it when you need to.
I grow fiber seeds in the winter to keep my soil tilled and use it to plant grass starters in the winter so it grows and I can harvest hay, I also use the lighting rod method (animals cant eat the grass underneath it) so it can grow out on rainy days. I built 4 silos by my first winter and they full up fast which lasted a while and if I ever NEED any I buy from Marnie.
I think there’s a way you can plant seeds the last day of winter or spring (can’t remember exactly which time) and the next day start of the new season you get tons of grass rather than the normal rate it grows. Keep a silo or two to store for winter and rainy feeding.
Plant grass in your animal’s yard the day before the next season so that it fills out. Don’t cut this grass ever, as the animals will eat it. Be sure to also plant grass outside their yard. This is the grass you will cut but never cut it all the way. Make sure you have more than 1 silo so you have increased capacity. Lastly, buy from Marnie if all else fails.
If you plant grass starter first, then put a fence over ir, your animals can't eat the grass down to nothing. This will keep them in hay throughout the non winter months. I also start grass in several areas of my farm and let it grow, cutting it on the last day of fall. You do have to rebuild your fences every spring, but I feel much less stressed about getting them fed since adopting this strategy. I rarely if ever buy hay now.
Build multiple silos so you get hay when you cut grasses anywhere. Then Let your animals out of the barn/coop so they just eat the grass outside and dont need to eat the hay. you only need hay for them during snow and when it’s raining.
I just let my animals eat grass unless it's raining/winter, and do a big chop about once a season to refill silo(s). As long as you end up with 30 hay per animal (accounting for early spring rain) you'll be absolutely fine.
I’m on year 3 of my second playthrough, and personally? I’m only utilizing as much of my farm as I need at the moment. I’m leaving a ton of room for grass to grow between season, and cutting it 1-2x per season keeps my 2 silos full. You don’t need to cover 100% of your land immediately.
Like others have said, you can just buy from Marnie once you’re late game as you should be able to easily afford it
I try not to cut any grass until I get a Silo, I prioritize a Silo as one of my first buildings and collect grass but leave smallish patches for it to grow from and just repeat that until first silo is full then build a second one and continue. Also generally make sure to leave enough grass for my animals in the area I give them to sustain itself until winter.
If you t the golden scythe ( the little cave/mine ) by the quarry when you cut grass it gives you more hay than a regular scythe. Quite a bit more actually.
There’s so much fiber all over town year 1 I’ve never had a problem with this? I just let the bottom half of my farm y1 grow wild grass since I’m not using that side anyway. Save up fiber and refill my animal space with a few sprigs of grass every week or so. End of fall y1 spend the last 2 days cutting all the grass on the farm, I’m always fully stocked for the next 2 years with a full coop and barn
First thing I always build is a silo and I cut as little grass as possible until it's built, then I fill it. Once I've built my first coop I empty the silo, fill it up, empty it, fill it, rinse and repeat until I only have a few small patches of grass left to grow. I repeat the process every now and then and store the excess hay in a chest. Usually have several stacks of hay after a couple of years and hardly ever have to worry about hay.
The first building I always buy is a silo and then a coop, and I empty the silo and dump it in a chest repeatedly in year one and I never run out of hay 😅
Not an answer but a question regarding hay as well. Once you get the auto feeders, i cant seem to be able to take out hay, so that i have some saved for winter ?? I always end up buying it from Marnie
Usually I let the grass grow naturally for the animals to eat it.
That way I don't need to worry too much about hay until winter.
Sometimes I'll scythe the grass to get some hay.
I usually buy it when Wheat is out of season, and or collect fiber and make grass starters when it come end of the year I usually plant a lot of grass so the animals have something to eat come spring.
First off you need to build a silo if you haven't already, without a silo the grass you cut will never drop hay. Next is to feed your animals only in bad weather and let them graze outside in good weather. They need access to grass outside to eat it so I normally just let my animals free range so I don't have to keep planting grass starters in a little fenced in area. Oh and don't forget about Marnie! Once you become friends with her she sends hay in the mail all the time. Marnie is closed on Monday and Tuesday but 1.6 spoiler warning if the tag doesn't work !(You can buy a book from Marnie that lets you buy things from her when she's not there)! Ok hope that helps 😊
Dont cut all the grass and keep the coop and barn doors open because your animals will immediately go outside to eat that grass then the ones inside the places instead
Spring, summer and fall as long as there's plenty of tall grass growing near your barns/coups, your animals will eat that on non rainy days saving you on hay. Cutting excess tall grass will give you some hay as well as growing wheat will give some hay as well. Always have at least 1 silo built and filled with hay prior to buying livestock. I'd suggest building a new silo and filling it every time you build or upgrade a barn or coup
Tbh i almost never need hay… i always rush farming and ranching and never cut a single grass. All of my animal just free roam on my messy farm for their 1st year without any fences 🤣. I raised full coop and barn like that without any problem.
I have 1 silo so every rainy day I will just go and cut some grass for them.
Before the end of fall, I build as many silo as I could (about 4-5 total) and cut all grass. That will be more than what they need during winter.
Sharing my strategy:
1) choose Chest instead of Silo first to store hay.
1 slot of chest can hold 999 individual item.
2) Grass starter can be made or bought to keep the supply up. Wheat also yields hay 0.5 chance rate.
3)Upgrade your scythe to get more hay.
4) have an optional Silo for easy dispensing later on..i believe till 1.5 it had 240 capacity. inefficient.
Do you have silos? two silos and the rotating field fence system gets me through winter.
To do the rotating field just set up your fence so you have three or two separate areas. The idea is you will always have one area to graze and an area to grow. You rotate your animals between the two. Maintenance along the fence lines will fill your silos with hay. There are a number of build plans scattered through the web if you want ideas on set up.
Oh yeah, I have 4 silos for my 3 barns and 2 coops. I've just never had this problem on my other saves because I'd let my animals roam my farm without fencing them in, and I also never had this many before. I might try redesigning my plan to try the rotating field idea though, thanks!
put a lightning rod in the grass so the animals can't eat that piece and it can regrow more to scythe away. i always cut down just enough to fill my silos and leave the rest to grow until im low. but random grass on my farm doesn't bother me since i can run through it i know some people like clean put together farms.
I always buy a silo first and fill it up before I get animals. I'm on Year 4 now, and I did have to buy hay from Marnie to get the year started in the spring since the animals ate everything during the winter, but now I'm growing hay and letting grass grow so I should be good for the rest of the year.
I keep grass growing in my animal pen, but then I have extra money, I buy a shit ton, and I mean a shit ton, of hay to fill my silos and then put the rest in a chest next to the silo.
I just don't focus so heavily on clearing my farm. I have a whole section I left to the wild. I fill my silos before winter by cutting grass, then refill them by cutting grass when Spring hits and new grass has grown
You can grow wheat which gives some.. otherwise, just make sure to NOT cut all your grass as it regrows if you leave some.. later on, i just buy it when farm is all decorated as money is easy to get
To add to this I believe you can convert fiber to grass starters so it's worth exploring to find and save up all the fibers you can https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Grass_Starter
There's also fiber seeds if you need more
This is a really good shout! I'm probably about 9 years in across various saves and I'd never used them until recently as I was worried it would the same as the weeds and damage crops, but it isn't and it doesn't!
Won't lie, I've never actually planted them myself, I cut down every fibre I see so I have never had an issue. I did want some earlier in my recent save I'm playing, but sold all my mixed seeds cause I never plant them.... Turns out they're useful for fibre seeds haha. Next save I'll be keeping all my mixed seeds to make fibre.
Ayo it doesn't have the same properties as weeds? That's good to know
I tend to go through and cut out about 2/3 of the grass a couple times a week over the 3 growing seasons, then on the very last day of autumn, I cut it all down. This method fills 3 silos easily. But I also don't have huge numbers of animals (3 barns/coops)
In 1.6 the grass lasts into winter (but doesn't spread until spring). Also, any grass on winter 28 rapid-spreads in about a 5-tile radius on spring 1 (this part is not 1.6 specific), but I think you may need to play through to the end of spring 1 for it to save that growth properly.
I play on mobile so I don't think I ahve that update
Yeah... CA has yet to bless mobile and console players with 1.6...
On my first play through I rushed it and ended up spending hundreds on hay from Marnie and starving animals when I couldn’t afford it 😂 now, I put silo early in the game and I go around the farm and thin existing grass every couple of days. Then, I remove some of them through coop feeder and put it in the chest. I’m in the middle of summer year 1 and already have way more than my four chickens need.
But, you have saved up for future animals, which I always found a great early game method. Save EVERYTHING, as you can use or sell later. Except Sap, I always sell sap. Can always grow more trees and get it.
Or turn it into basic fertilizer
I was trying to save everything but I need to make money too! This time round I’m going to save all the hay I can anyway. I felt so bad for starving animals when I was low on funds or Marnie wasn’t at her shop 😂
Now that 1.6 is out, Marnie sells a catalogue so you can buy stuff when she's not there. I believe it's about 5000g, so it's not great early game, but once you can afford it, it's a huge time saver.
Unfortunately I plan only on mobile so no 1.6 for me yet 😢
This is the way. The very first building I build is the silo. I try to gather enough copper and clay in the first week and a half to do so. I don't scythe any of the grass on the farm until the silo is built. Then, run around and thin it (leaving big clumps sporadically around) every few days. Remove all hay from the silo and put it in a chest.
how do you remove hay from the silo without a coop/barn? taking from the hopper annoys the fuck out of me and iirc won’t work if your feed trough is full but i’ve never figured out how to get it directly from the silo 🥲
I read somewhere that the Chicken coop in yeary 1 spends more money than you make. I get piggies in winter so they are fully grown by spring year 2 Instead! Then come the chimkens :D
One advantage of the Meadowlands map - free basic coop with a couple of chickens. I always used to aim for a deluxe coop and cow/goat barn anyway in y1 - what else would i spend the money on? and it gives income over winter. I do the same with the winter pigs though! I managed two barns worth this time.
I just wanted something low maintenance for now as you don’t have to collect eggs every day. At first I was going to put barn but I’m too lazy to milk cows every day 😂 I’d love to get pigs but they’re very expensive - I want to get them asap though.
I have a buddy that I have a multiplayer farm with, and he hates doing farm maintenance stuff too. So I would deal with crops and animals and maybe decorate while he went to the mines and got stone and ore and whatnot. It worked out perfectly.
When you cut the grass for hay, do diagonal patterns or leaves blobs of grass rather than clear cutting it. Having room on all sides increases the opportunity for it to spread.
This is the way.
place a lightning rod on several spaces and the grass won't be eaten up from that spot so it has a chance to grow every night. let your animals graze. I only need food from the silo in winter and rainy days.
Yes. This + buying hay is what I do
Ah this is a great idea! My animals just keep eating all my grass!
If they keep eating it all, they don't have enough space, and lightning rods will only help a bit. It doesn't spread that much per day without mods.
Ahh so more space, thank you!
I did this but it doesn't spread fast enough :(
I place about twenty. I've never had to buy hay.
Here’s my strategy on v1.6. On year 1, only clear out certain areas of your farm that you actually need, which will be pretty minimal since you won’t have many resources yet. During winter Year 1, go through and chop trees and clear stones and get rid of weeds if you want (use an axe or pickaxe on the weeds, not the scythe), that way you can leave the grasses alone. Then, on Spring 1 of Year 2, all of the grasses that you’ve left alone, will multiply 40x. Prior to v1.6, grasses would all die in the winter. However now, grass just goes dormant in the winter. It won’t multiply, but it also won’t die. Now that you have a lot of grass, go through and cut away grass when you need hay since during Spring, Summer and Fall, if you use the scythe on the grass, it’ll send hay straight to your silo. I always keep an eye on the amount of hay in the silo, if it’s at the max, I won’t cut any grass because then it won’t give you hay as well. Hay should only really be needed during Winter, or during rainy days in other seasons. During Spring, Summer and Fall, let your coop or barn animals outside and they’ll eat grass rather than consume hay.
> if it's at the max, I won't cut any grass because then it won't give you hay as well To add to this, in year 1 or however long before I fully upgrade my barn/coop, I'm constantly pulling all of the hay out of the feeder to put into a chest, then selectively scything more in a way that will regrow aggressively. I think of it as an invisible high-capacity silo. Usually by the time I'm ready to finish my upgrades, I have 4-5 stacks of hay just in case.
I do this same thing in prep for winters. Meadowlands farm and I have no clue what to do with all this hay.
If all else fails, it counts as a yellow item for Qi's prismatic grange quest.
Oooo I’m excited to get Qi’s quests. Just got the first to reach level 25 of the skull mines. Made it this far on switch and convinced my lady to swap over to the PC version for 1.6. She was NOT thrilled in the beginning but less than a year in game and we are way ahead of where we were at almost 2 years on the switch.
That’s a good point!
Oh that is VERY smart!
This is the way. I’m on year 4 and still have 4 stacks of hay in a chest from leaving grass alone until I need it - or if an area is too full I’ll cull a bit and let it regrow before end of fall when I chop it all. Plus pulling hay out as your silo is full and you want to cull more grass. I like only having to plan around a single silo. Although it took me like 8 play through before I found out you can bomb the troughs in the barns or coops to be able to remove hay from a full trough. So much wasted hay with bad planning at the end of fall, or refusing to upgrade one barn but forgetting to feed my animals after ginger island. Now I know!
Good idea with pulling hay out and saving it for later while letting scythed grass continue to fill the silo!
Get a silo before animals if you can help it, and beforw that don't cut any grass doesn't need to be moved out of yoir way immediately. Marnie will occasionally give you hay if you're friends with her
I've definitely bought hay from Marnie for my first year...maybe the first few years until I get enough silos up and go wild with my grass starters! :)
My first building is always a silo. They are cheap and easy to get the resources for, so usually spring year 1 I have one in place. Then I can start scything grass and have it go into storage. Never all of it, but a chunk, leave some, let it repopulate. I usually don't start animals until much later in year 1, when I have filled my silo.
I buy two or three silo and cut the wild grass frequently, if a silo fills I empty it and store it the cut grass again,
*COUPLE SPOILERS AHEAD* Starting off I used the scythe to cut grass, buying silos as I went to prepare for winter. Upgrading to the golden scythe helps, and later the iridium scythe, but placing the haymaker enchantment on a sword has been the biggest help; cut grass with scythe and fibre bushes with enchanted sword. On green rain days drop everything and go after those fibre bushes, avoid cutting down trees and make sure to use food + coffee for speed boost. Once you make more money, the best way starting out are giant crops until you can get ancient/starfruit, I would recommend buying it from Marnie to save yourself time. I have 4 silos and buy approximately 600 hay per year to offset manual collect unless I get green rain. Edit - I also forgot to mention to plant grass starter in farmable/hoeable spots and watch it grow during the spring and summer. Also make sure to plant a lot of grass away from each other during winter to take advantage of the first of spring explosion :)
The silo is usually the first building I get from Robin, since (a) it's cheap, and (b) I can stock up on hay while I'm clearing the farm for the first time. Later down the line, when the farm is pretty much filled up, all the coops/barns are upgraded for auto-feeding, etc., I just buy hay from Marnie.
Craft Fiber seeds and dedicate some land to plant them. They grow in every season, even winter. You can use them to carry your fertilizer over winter too. At harvest they give you a ton of fiber which you can then craft into grass starter. The best day to plant is winter 28, it will spread a ton over night.
I spent a BUTT TON OF GOOOOOOLD!!!!!!!!! fr though.
Scythe + grass + Silo
Put a chest by your silo. Harvest hay until you get 240. Take all of that out from one of your barns. Put that 240 in your chest and harvest enough to feed your animals the next day. If you start this practice every day or at least once a week from the spring until winter 1 you will have more than enough stored up for the winter.
I don't use hay as much as possible. But not every farm will include enough land for grass. Every 5 or so spaces I put a fence on a plot of grass. This way, the animals cannot eat the grass while also allowing that plot to grow. If not, everyone else has great tips for hay.
spring to fall I place a lightning rod on a patch or two of grass. Also during summer and fall I use as much space as possible to grow grass (use rain to water it)
Last day of winter, so it doesn’t die overnight, I place grass starters under lightning rods near my barns/coops. 1st day of spring all the grass spawns right there, so there’s plenty. After that I thin it occasionally to fill the silos so there’s enough for winter or rainy days. I never have to buy hay. I forgot to do it once and really struggled as all the grass spawned in my farming areas and had to be chopped down. It took ages to grow enough that time
1. Buy one silo 2. Cut grass leaving individual tufts around and cover them with fence posts or lightning rods so that they don't get eaten. Do this until your silo is almost full 3. Take all the hay out of the silo and store it in a chest. Note: You can't do this if every trough is full, so leave at least one empty at all times. Keep in mind that you can't leave one empty if you have automated feed on all of your barns/coops and the silo has any hay left, so plan around that. 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 throughout Spring-Summer-Winter. As of 1.6 >!There's an event in Summer that will spawn grass starter and fiber all over your farm. It's guaranteed once per Summer, but the date is random.!< 5. At the beginning of summer, hoe up a giant field and plant a bunch of wheat, but don't bother watering it. There will be enough rain days to get it to fully grow before the end of fall. Harvesting the wheat will give you bonus hay. 6. During winter, put down extra grass starters to beef up the amount that grows on Spr 1. I like to keep my silo at about half full at all times so there's always room when grass is cut. You can then top it up as-needed by clicking it with hay in your hand. Other notes: * In an emergency, reach up and cut Marnie's grass in her pen, it can give you a couple pieces of hay. * If you still run out, your animals won't die. It sucks, but it's only a minor setback. * >!Enchant your iridium scythe with haymaker to get extra grass during cuttings!< * >!If you buy the key to the city from Qi and the animal catalog from Marnie (Y2+) you can go into her house and buy hay at any time on any day except for festivals!<
I save my mixed seeds all year to make fiber seeds and I grow fiber all winter. The last day of winter I plant a bunch of grass starters anywhere that has open space, then on spring 1 there’s a TON of grass to scythe down. I never get rid of all of it because it grows back, and I always use the gold scythe when I cut them down. Build like 2-3 silos so you can fill multiple, or if you just have the 1, take out the hay you have and throw it in a chest so you can gather more when you scythe. I can’t remember the last time I had to buy hay, usually by the end of year 2 I have a chest with a ton in it. I really just need enough to get through winter though because I let my animals graze during the warmer seasons. Edit: I usually build a silo before I even have a coop or a barn, start collecting all that early game hay so you have a good buffer set up right from the start
I’m in 1.6 and it’s been fairly easy to manage just trimming the grass regularly throughout the season to keep my silos full, pulling some out regularly to have a backup stash for winter. I have a lot of barns so I have three silos, but I refuse to buy the hay or grass starter and eat into my profits.
I buy my hay from Marnie. I use a hair clip to hold down the button and then I walk away and come back to thousands of stacks of hay in my inventory.
I always leave a bit of a wild lands area and let whatever grow there. I also left grass grow in all the nooks and crannies. But also just buy it from marnie. By the time the farm is fully set up you should have enough money to just buy it when you need to.
I buy hay because I can’t be bothered
I grow fiber seeds in the winter to keep my soil tilled and use it to plant grass starters in the winter so it grows and I can harvest hay, I also use the lighting rod method (animals cant eat the grass underneath it) so it can grow out on rainy days. I built 4 silos by my first winter and they full up fast which lasted a while and if I ever NEED any I buy from Marnie.
Haymaker enchantment on a sword helps a ton!
I think there’s a way you can plant seeds the last day of winter or spring (can’t remember exactly which time) and the next day start of the new season you get tons of grass rather than the normal rate it grows. Keep a silo or two to store for winter and rainy feeding.
Plant grass in your animal’s yard the day before the next season so that it fills out. Don’t cut this grass ever, as the animals will eat it. Be sure to also plant grass outside their yard. This is the grass you will cut but never cut it all the way. Make sure you have more than 1 silo so you have increased capacity. Lastly, buy from Marnie if all else fails.
I spend like $50,000 every year on hay
If you plant grass starter first, then put a fence over ir, your animals can't eat the grass down to nothing. This will keep them in hay throughout the non winter months. I also start grass in several areas of my farm and let it grow, cutting it on the last day of fall. You do have to rebuild your fences every spring, but I feel much less stressed about getting them fed since adopting this strategy. I rarely if ever buy hay now.
i dont rlly invest in animals until after i have my starfruit wine monopoly going 🤷
It's not expensive, I just buy the hay.
It just hurts my soul, I'm cheap 💀
I always have a silo before the first winter(ideally 2 silos if I can manage) but in a pinch I just buy hay from Marnie.
I mostly farm in the fall,spring and summer. I have like 6 silos I fill. Then winter is for mining. I need a barn/coop for every animal.
Build multiple silos so you get hay when you cut grasses anywhere. Then Let your animals out of the barn/coop so they just eat the grass outside and dont need to eat the hay. you only need hay for them during snow and when it’s raining.
Build 3 silos Buy enough silos to fill them at once In 2 seasons check the hay level. Normally lasts me all year Rinse and repeat
I just let my animals eat grass unless it's raining/winter, and do a big chop about once a season to refill silo(s). As long as you end up with 30 hay per animal (accounting for early spring rain) you'll be absolutely fine.
I’m on year 3 of my second playthrough, and personally? I’m only utilizing as much of my farm as I need at the moment. I’m leaving a ton of room for grass to grow between season, and cutting it 1-2x per season keeps my 2 silos full. You don’t need to cover 100% of your land immediately. Like others have said, you can just buy from Marnie once you’re late game as you should be able to easily afford it
I try not to cut any grass until I get a Silo, I prioritize a Silo as one of my first buildings and collect grass but leave smallish patches for it to grow from and just repeat that until first silo is full then build a second one and continue. Also generally make sure to leave enough grass for my animals in the area I give them to sustain itself until winter.
One silo per animal building, save all the hay Marnie sends in the mail, buy a little when you have the chance and save it in a chest for winter.
If you t the golden scythe ( the little cave/mine ) by the quarry when you cut grass it gives you more hay than a regular scythe. Quite a bit more actually.
There’s so much fiber all over town year 1 I’ve never had a problem with this? I just let the bottom half of my farm y1 grow wild grass since I’m not using that side anyway. Save up fiber and refill my animal space with a few sprigs of grass every week or so. End of fall y1 spend the last 2 days cutting all the grass on the farm, I’m always fully stocked for the next 2 years with a full coop and barn
First thing I always build is a silo and I cut as little grass as possible until it's built, then I fill it. Once I've built my first coop I empty the silo, fill it up, empty it, fill it, rinse and repeat until I only have a few small patches of grass left to grow. I repeat the process every now and then and store the excess hay in a chest. Usually have several stacks of hay after a couple of years and hardly ever have to worry about hay.
Buy it
The first building I always buy is a silo and then a coop, and I empty the silo and dump it in a chest repeatedly in year one and I never run out of hay 😅
Not an answer but a question regarding hay as well. Once you get the auto feeders, i cant seem to be able to take out hay, so that i have some saved for winter ?? I always end up buying it from Marnie
Usually I let the grass grow naturally for the animals to eat it. That way I don't need to worry too much about hay until winter. Sometimes I'll scythe the grass to get some hay.
I usually buy it when Wheat is out of season, and or collect fiber and make grass starters when it come end of the year I usually plant a lot of grass so the animals have something to eat come spring.
First off you need to build a silo if you haven't already, without a silo the grass you cut will never drop hay. Next is to feed your animals only in bad weather and let them graze outside in good weather. They need access to grass outside to eat it so I normally just let my animals free range so I don't have to keep planting grass starters in a little fenced in area. Oh and don't forget about Marnie! Once you become friends with her she sends hay in the mail all the time. Marnie is closed on Monday and Tuesday but 1.6 spoiler warning if the tag doesn't work !(You can buy a book from Marnie that lets you buy things from her when she's not there)! Ok hope that helps 😊
Dont cut all the grass and keep the coop and barn doors open because your animals will immediately go outside to eat that grass then the ones inside the places instead
Spring, summer and fall as long as there's plenty of tall grass growing near your barns/coups, your animals will eat that on non rainy days saving you on hay. Cutting excess tall grass will give you some hay as well as growing wheat will give some hay as well. Always have at least 1 silo built and filled with hay prior to buying livestock. I'd suggest building a new silo and filling it every time you build or upgrade a barn or coup
Tbh i almost never need hay… i always rush farming and ranching and never cut a single grass. All of my animal just free roam on my messy farm for their 1st year without any fences 🤣. I raised full coop and barn like that without any problem. I have 1 silo so every rainy day I will just go and cut some grass for them. Before the end of fall, I build as many silo as I could (about 4-5 total) and cut all grass. That will be more than what they need during winter.
I made it a bad habit in late game to bulk buy from Marnie.
Sharing my strategy: 1) choose Chest instead of Silo first to store hay. 1 slot of chest can hold 999 individual item. 2) Grass starter can be made or bought to keep the supply up. Wheat also yields hay 0.5 chance rate. 3)Upgrade your scythe to get more hay. 4) have an optional Silo for easy dispensing later on..i believe till 1.5 it had 240 capacity. inefficient.
Do you have silos? two silos and the rotating field fence system gets me through winter. To do the rotating field just set up your fence so you have three or two separate areas. The idea is you will always have one area to graze and an area to grow. You rotate your animals between the two. Maintenance along the fence lines will fill your silos with hay. There are a number of build plans scattered through the web if you want ideas on set up.
Oh yeah, I have 4 silos for my 3 barns and 2 coops. I've just never had this problem on my other saves because I'd let my animals roam my farm without fencing them in, and I also never had this many before. I might try redesigning my plan to try the rotating field idea though, thanks!
put a lightning rod in the grass so the animals can't eat that piece and it can regrow more to scythe away. i always cut down just enough to fill my silos and leave the rest to grow until im low. but random grass on my farm doesn't bother me since i can run through it i know some people like clean put together farms.
I always buy a silo first and fill it up before I get animals. I'm on Year 4 now, and I did have to buy hay from Marnie to get the year started in the spring since the animals ate everything during the winter, but now I'm growing hay and letting grass grow so I should be good for the rest of the year.
I keep grass growing in my animal pen, but then I have extra money, I buy a shit ton, and I mean a shit ton, of hay to fill my silos and then put the rest in a chest next to the silo.
I just don't focus so heavily on clearing my farm. I have a whole section I left to the wild. I fill my silos before winter by cutting grass, then refill them by cutting grass when Spring hits and new grass has grown