Don't forget the fodder or you're going to have a rough first year in Forgotten Valley.
To keep happy cattle in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life you’ll need to grow grass in the pasture to feed your cows. That sounds dead obvious, but you may not notice if your grass just isn’t growing. Without proper grass and fodder, your cows will steadily lose health each day and start producing worse milk.
The details of growing grass in the pasture get totally glossed over in the tips menu and if you get unlucky it may be a while before your farmhand Takakura happens to mention it to you in random dialogue. Here’s how to make sure your cows stay fed with plenty of pasture grass and fodder.
How to grow grass for your cows
(Image credit: Marvelous Inc, Xseed Games)
To grow grass in the pasture for your cows you have to use fertilizer, which you can buy from Vesta, Cecilia, or Matthew at their farm next door. You’ll start out your first spring with only a tiny bit of long grass in the pasture and most likely your first cow will munch all of it within a few days. With all your tall grass gone none will grow back, and if there’s no tall grass out in the pasture, your cows won’t have anything to eat.
As soon as you can afford it, I recommend buying about 18 units of fertilizer for 360 gold. Out in your pasture, hold down E to spread it into 3×3 squares of tiny short grass which will grow into tall grass the next day. That tall grass will spread naturally. Having two patches of it should be enough to get things going without your cow munching it all. Oh, and your grass doesn’t die off in the winter, so a big healthy pasture will last you through the years.
How to get fodder for cows
On days when it’s raining or snowing, you’ll need to keep your livestock inside so they don’t catch a cold. They still need to eat though, so grab fodder out of the dispenser on the right hand wall and place it in their feeding troughs. To refill your fodder dispenser, use your sickle to cut down grass in your pasture. As mentioned above though, you don’t want to mow down all that grass and be left barren out there. Take only what you need to get through rainy days initially while you wait for your pasture to get established.
(Image credit: Marvelous Inc, Xseed Games)
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