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Animal Husbandry & Pens

By ScotPublished Updated Sources checked

Tactical Quick Answer

Since the 1.3 patch, livestock such as cows, muffalos, and sheep need physically enclosed pens because they ignore abstract zone boundaries and wander off the map. Build a perimeter out of fences, barricades, or solid walls, add a fence gate or animal flap so pawns can get in, then place a Pen Marker inside to activate the pen. The marker auto-calculates nutrition per day from the biome's grass regrowth so you can size your herd correctly.

Since the 1.3 patch, animal husbandry has undergone a massive overhaul. You can no longer simply zone your cows into the freezer or use abstract area restrictions to keep them safe.

Pen Enclosures​

Livestock such as cows, muffalos, and sheep require physically enclosed pens. They ignore abstract zone boundaries entirely and will wander off the map if not contained.

To create a functional pen:

  1. Build a perimeter using fences, barricades, solid walls, doors, or natural rock. Fences are cheap and have low hit points, but any enclosed pen protects your livestock, because predators will not hunt animals inside a pen unless they are already inside it. Raiders ignore penned animals entirely.
  2. Install a fence gate, or a door if you used solid walls, so animals can be roped in and out. Your colonists do not need it, since they climb fences and barricades unaided. Do not use an animal flap on the perimeter: penned animals walk straight through one, so it leaves the pen unenclosed. Flaps belong on barns inside the pen.
  3. Place a Pen Marker inside the enclosed area. This designates the space as an active pen and lets you configure which animals are allowed inside, along with auto-cut plant orders and auto-slaughter thresholds by species and gender.

Nutrition Calculations​

The Pen Marker is the most important tool for managing your herd. Its Food tab auto-calculates nutrition per day for the enclosed space, and it reads the actual terrain fertility and vegetation inside your fence and not a biome-wide average. A pen laid out on stony soil gives almost nothing no matter what biome it sits in, and roofing a pen stops grass growing at all. The tab also shows total consumption, stockpiled nutrition, capacity expressed in cows or chickens, and a forecast per season, which is the part worth checking before you expand a herd.

Balance your herd size against that number. Too many animals in a small pen eat grass faster than it regrows, and you get mass starvation. Winter is the pinch point, though grass does not strictly die: it goes leafless and inedible below roughly -10°C and grows leaves back within a day once things warm up. That never happens at all in tropical rainforest or hot desert. Deep snow is the other trap, because it covers low plants and starves a herd at temperatures they could otherwise survive. Grow haygrass in a separate zone and stockpile it, along with kibble, to carry the herd through the cold months.

Roping and Handling​

Pawns assigned to the "Handle" work type manage your animals.

  • Roping: Handlers use the roping mechanic to retrieve wandering livestock and physically lead them back into their assigned pens.
  • Taming Exotics: Every animal has a Minimum Handling Skill, shown on the Wildlife menu alongside its revenge chance. Thrumbos and Megasloths both need 10 out of 20, which is the joint highest in the base game, and Odyssey's alpha thrumbo needs 14. A failed tame puts that animal on a 12-hour cooldown and rolls its revenge chance, which varies wildly by species: a Thrumbo's is zero, so a failed attempt costs you nothing, while a Megasloth's is 30%. Retaliation means a manhunter attack and not certain death, but a manhunting megasloth is still a serious problem.

Frequently Asked Questions​

Why do my animals keep wandering off the map?

Livestock ignore abstract zone boundaries entirely. Un-penned ones enter a roaming state and head for the map edge, rolled as a chance per day, roughly every two days for muffalo and cows and every five for sheep. It raises an alert, so a handler can rope them back before they actually leave.

What does the Pen Marker actually do?

It designates an enclosed space as an active pen, lets you configure which animals are allowed in, and runs auto-cut and auto-slaughter rules. Its Food tab auto-calculates nutrition per day from the terrain and vegetation actually inside your fence, not from a biome average, and forecasts it by season.

How do I feed my herd through winter?

Stockpile haygrass and kibble grown in a separate zone. Grass does not die in winter so much as go leafless and inedible below about -10C, and deep snow covers low plants even when it is warm enough for them, which starves herds that would otherwise be fine.

Are fences good enough to build a pen?

Yes. Any enclosed pen protects livestock, because predators do not hunt animals inside a pen unless they are already in it, and raiders ignore penned animals. Fences are cheap with low hit points. Add a fence gate for roping animals in and out, since your colonists climb fences without one.

Can I tame a Thrumbo in RimWorld?

You need a handler at Minimum Handling Skill 10, and Odyssey's alpha thrumbo needs 14. A failed tame is less dangerous than its reputation suggests for thrumbos specifically, since their revenge chance is zero. Megasloths, which need the same skill, retaliate 30 percent of the time.