Good idea to build fences around farm buildings?

That's how I usually take care of my animals too. Pettings in the morning before being let outside, then close the gate sometime after 6 PM to make sure everybody got back in.

But I'm gonna do it a little different in this round. It'll be something new to experience too, a different way of playing the game.

 

Oh shit, could it possibly be a mod?

 

The wolves got my pig one night. I saw her sleeping in my field after I'd closed the door but didn't think too much of it. A sound plays during the black screen during the day change similar to the earthquake or meteor events. I can't remember if there's any text. Only happened the one time though. No mods.

 

Well dude that fucking blows,

 

Wait, chickens and other animals don't feed on your crops if you don't keep them separated?

 

They just wade through them, or hang around them. My little void chickens love hiding in my blueberries plants. They can get in the way of planting though, it can slow you down if you are trying to do a mass planting in one day. You have to stop and shove them out of the way

 

Before I got a fence completely put in, a chick ran off, and never returned. Either she fell in with Jaz's bad crowd, or she became a meat entree to some wolves. So there seems to be some truth to the idea that fences are a good thing for your farmyard animals.

 

I had 1 visit from the wolfie, just one..
And it managed to get INTO my barn and eat one of my goats :c
Also it spooked all the other barn/coop animals, but just a goat went byebye v.v
(fyi, barn door was CLOSED and i had a fence around em all)

 

That...sounds like a glitch. >.> No way it should have been able to get past a fence and a closed door.

 

I know right .. I was pretty surprised aswell .. Coming into the barn, counting my goats and be like "waaaait a minute, one's missing!"
Alteast it didn't happen again!

 

If you decide to put in a fence, keep in mind that fences can deteriorate over time, so putting things like preserve jars or kegs in a line, instead of a fence, would stay longer and you can use them as part of the farm production since jelly and wine/beer sell for a lot. It does take a bit to craft all the barrels you'll need at first, but at least once they are placed they won't deteriorate. I hope that helps

 

The hardwood fences last a loooong time, they're pretty good if you're able to collect the hardwood from the Secret Woods. I've got a ton of fencing on my farm and over 800 hardwood in a chest, I've only had to repair a few pieces so far and it's been a couple years.
The chests and machinery will work too though if you don't want to deal with fences.

 

Luthien is right. Hardwood last a long time. 2 years to be exact. Then iron, then stone, then normal wood. Normal wood only lasts like a month, so those take a lot of maintenance.

 

I remember when I first started playing, I put a little wood fence around my garden and I was VERY displeased to see so many pieces breaking within a few days. It wasn't even worth having up at that point, so I just didn't bother with fencing until I had the good stuff. Normal wood will just melt away, you're better off saving it for building machines and buildings.

 

Yeah at first I didn't think they were so bad cause it was early on and I didn't know how fast they broke down. I eventually did all stone which was very nice and I had that for a while, but now I have all hardwood and it's amazing.

 

There are also mods that make fences nearly indestructible. I find their deterioration far too swift, and the cost for a hardwood one seems out of keeping with the rest of the game's costs. I don't mind spending--I've got a ton of money--but it should go for luxury items or higher end things that do something, rather than (admittedly, just in my opinion) fix fences that wear out as though they were balsa wood.

 

Okay, so I've had free roaming open-gate animals for about a year in-game by now and so far everybody is safe.

BUT I can say that the animals' productivity has gone down significantly. Cows are not producing as much milk and chickens are not laying as many eggs as usual and the quality of the produce of all animals has gone down. I rarely get large eggs, large milks and the like.
So fence or not, it's definitely a good idea to close the gates before you go to bed. Keeping them open seems to have a negative effect on the animals.

 

It's said that leaving the gates open will cause them to be unhappy, so that's no surprise there. Unless you're talking about fence gates...that I'm not sure about, but I would imagine the effect would be the same. I wonder how big of a yard they like though, or if it matters, so long as they are fenced in and gated.

 

I'm talking about the gates in the coop and barn, yes ^.^

 

Ah, ok - yeah I think the animals are pretty particular about what they like. Even in winter I noticed some days my cows just didn't wanna give me any milk at all - and I can't help it that they have to be shut indoors the whole season. I'd let them out on nice days if it were up to me. >u<