Editing v0.34:Grazer

{{Quality|Fine|19:52, 31 January 2014 (UTC)}}
{{av}}{{buggy}}

Tame '''grazing''' animals (those with the GRAZER token) require a constant source of grass or cave moss to survive. [[Pasture]]s are currently the easiest such source, however care must be taken to ensure that the pasture is large enough to provide food for all the assigned animals (and any auto-assigned babies).

==Grazing animals and pasture size==
Grazing animals use the [GRAZER:<value>] token to signify how much grass they need to eat.  This is an inverse number - the value in grazer signifies how much hunger is reduced when eating a unit of grass. (Hunger increases every tick; a creature dies when it reaches 100,000). A creature with ten times the grazer value needs one tenth the amount of grass (and hence, pasture land) as a creature with a small grazer value. If you started your fortress in an undead biome, you may need to assign more space for a pasture as much of the grass is dead. Animals will not eat dead grass and will only eat the still living patches.

Animals which graze are typically good livestock candidates, as many of them can be [[milk]]ed and 3 also can be [[shear]]ed for [[wool]]. Creatures with larger sizes consume more grass, but also produce more meat when [[butcher]]ed.

Each [[time]] unit adds one point to hunger.  An animal takes an average of one turn per ten time units, and takes one time unit to eat grass. If there were an unlimited amount of grass on a tile, even animals with [GRAZER:1] would be able to feed themselves, however, there are at most 4 bunches of grass. Therefore, a creature of standard speed and agility with [GRAZER:3] would not be able to survive, and creatures with [GRAZER:4] require a constant source of grass (in other words infinite sized pastures) to survive. In practice, anything with [GRAZER:20] or less is eventually incapable of feeding itself. Because of this, the larger creatures like [[draltha]]s are virtually impossible to keep fed, and [[elephant]]s are incapable of feeding themselves fast enough to stave off starvation. {{bug|4113}}

If grazing animals consume all the grass on a tile, the tile will be reverted to the base layer material. This may be [[sand]], [[clay]] or [[soil]]. In this way you receive a visual clue as to the size of the pasture required.

==List of grazing animals==
{{catbox}}
Take the following numbers with a grain of salt; they ignore the differing abilities of various biomes to replenish grass and are instead based on a rule of thumb that 20000=Grazer*Required_tiles. Usually you can get along with way smaller pastures. Nevertheless, a fairly large herd can cause overgrazing fast, so keep an eye out for hungry animals and desolate [[grass]]less pastures.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! Animal
! Grazer<br>value
! Creature<br>Size
! [[Milking|Milkable]]
! [[Shearing|Shearable]]
! Recommended Pasture Size<br>per individual
! Pasture Area
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Elephant]]
| 12 || 5,000,000 || ||
|style="text-align:left"| Cannot Self Feed (Graze Value <= 20)
||N/A
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Rhinoceros]]
| 20 || 3,000,000 || ||
|style="text-align:left"| Cannot Self Feed (Graze Value <= 20)
||N/A
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant moose|Giant bull moose]]
| 23 || 4,257,750 || ||
|style="text-align:left"| 29 x 29
|| 841
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Draltha]]
| 24
| 2,500,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 29 x 29
|| 841
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant moose|Giant moose cow]]
| 38
| 2,554,650
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 28 x 28
||784
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Water buffalo]]
| 60
| 1,000,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 18 x 18
||324
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giraffe]]
| 60
| 1,000,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 18 x 18
||324
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Yak]]
| 85
| 700,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 16 x 16
||256
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Gigantic panda]]
| 92
| 1,160,900
| 
|
|style="text-align:left"| N/A (only eat bamboo, will starve without it)
||N/A
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Cow]]
| 100
| 600,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 14 x 14
||196
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Unicorn]]
| 100
| 600,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 14 x 14
||196
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Moose|Bull moose]]
| 114
| 525,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 14 x 14
||196
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Horse]]
| 120
| 500,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 13 x 13
||169
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Camel]] (both)
| 120
| 500,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 13 x 13
||169
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant capybara]]
| 133
| 523,350
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 13 x 13
||169
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Mule]]
| 150
| 400,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 12 x 12
||144
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Moose|Cow moose]]
| 190
| 315,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 11 x 11
||121
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Donkey]]
| 200
| 300,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 10 x 10
||100
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Elk]]
| 200
| 300,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 10 x 10
||100
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Muskox]]
| 210
| 285,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 10 x 10
||100
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant red panda]]
| 255
| 235,100
| 
|
|style="text-align:left"| N/A (only eat bamboo, will starve without it)
||N/A
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Tapir]]
| 300
| 200,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 9 x 9 ?
||81
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Llama]]
| 333
| 180,000
| Yes
| Yes
|style="text-align:left"| 8 x 8
||64
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Deer]]
| 428
| 140,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 7 x 7
||49
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Reindeer]]
| 461
| 130,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 7 x 7
||49
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Panda]]
| 462
| 130,000
| 
|
|style="text-align:left"| N/A (only eat bamboo, will starve without it)
||N/A
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Warthog]]
| 600
| 100,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 6 x 6
||36
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Elk bird]]
| 600
| 100,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 6 x 6
||36
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Kangaroo]]
| 667
| 90,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 6 x 6
||36
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Alpaca]]
| 857
| 70,000
| Yes
| Yes
|style="text-align:left"| 5 x 5
||25
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Goat]]
| 1,200
| 50,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Mountain goat]]
| 1,200
| 50,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Ibex]]
| 1,200
| 50,000
| 
| 
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Impala]]
| 1,200
| 50,000
| 
| 
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Sheep]]
| 1,200
| 50,000
| Yes
| Yes
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Capybara]]
| 1,333
| 45,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Wombat]]
| 2,308
| 25,000
| 
| 
|style="text-align:left"| 3 x 3 ?
||9
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Gazelle]]
| 3,000
| 20,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 3 x 3
||9
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Hoary marmot]]
| 6,000
| 10,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 2 x 2
||4
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Red panda]]
| 12,000
| 5,000
| 
|
|style="text-align:left"| N/A (only eat bamboo, will starve without it)
||N/A
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Hare]]
| 17,143
| 3,500
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 1 x 1 ?
||1
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Groundhog]]
| 20,000
| 3,000
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 1 x 1
||1
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Cavy]]
| 75,000
| 800
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 1 x 1 (can feed up to 3 cavies)
||1
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Rabbit]]
| 120,000
| 500
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 1 x 1 (can feed up to 5 rabbits)
||1
|}

The following giant animals do not modify the grazer token inherited from their parents and are bugged to eat less than their size would indicate.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! Animal
! Grazer<br>value
! Creature<br>Size
! [[Milking|Milkable]]
! [[Shearing|Shearable]]
! Recommended Pasture Size<br>per individual
! Pasture Area
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant tapir]]
| 300
| 1,700,000
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 9 x 9 ?
||81
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant kangaroo]]
| 667
| 857,700
| Yes
|
|style="text-align:left"| 6 x 6
||36
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant ibex]]
| 1,200
| 560,000
| 
| 
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant impala]]
| 1,200
| 560,000
| 
| 
|style="text-align:left"| 4 x 4
||16
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant wombat]]
| 2,308
| 377,750
| 
| 
|style="text-align:left"| 3 x 3 ?
||9
|-

|style="text-align:left"| [[Giant hare]]
| 17,143
| 224,560
|
|
|style="text-align:left"| 1 x 1 ?
||1
|-
|}

==Bugs==

* A number of grazing creatures are unable to feed themselves fast enough to survive.{{bug|4113}}

* [[Panda]]s only eat [[bamboo]], and invariably starve.

* Egg-laying grazers will starve themselves sitting on a [[nest box]].{{bug|4637}}

* Grazing children tend to clump in the same tile as their mother, leading to starvation and [[overcrowding]]. This is particularly problematic for species with large litters, like [[giant capybara]]s.

* When a [[civilian alert]] is active, grazers outside of the alert burrow refuse to eat.{{bug|6240}}