Animal Feed

Animal Feed is the fuel that keeps your livestock happy and productive in Starsand Island. Every animal on your farm must be fed daily in order to stay healthy and produce byproducts like wool, eggs, milk, and truffles. You can either purchase feed from Pastelle's shop at Green Pasture Ranch or craft it yourself using a Feeder station. Crafting your own feed is cheaper in the long run and lets you produce higher-quality variants as you advance through the Rancher profession.

Getting the Feeder

You receive the basic Feeder station after completing the Apprentice Rancher certification with Pastelle. Before this point, you must buy feed directly from her shop. The Feeder is built at a Worktable I and, once placed on your farm, gives you access to crafting feed for every animal type you have unlocked.

A Feeder can also be purchased from Pastelle's shop as a blueprint. If you want multiple Feeders for convenience (one near each enclosure area, for example), you can build as many as you have materials for.

Feed Types

Each animal species requires its own specific feed type. The Feeder produces 12 standard feed varieties:

Key Ingredients

Feed recipes share a pool of common ingredients. Understanding where to get each one is crucial for keeping up with daily demand:

Known Recipes

Several feed recipes have been documented:

A recurring design pattern is that each feed recipe requires byproducts from lower-tier animals. For example, Sheep Feed and Cattle Feed both require Eggs, which come from Chickens and Ducks. Chicken Feed itself requires Rabbit Poop. This creates a natural progression where owning earlier animals supports feeding later ones.

The Separator Connection

Two of the most important feed ingredients, Fruit Pulp and Vegetable Juice, are both produced at the Separator station. The Separator blueprint is included free in Zerine's Equipment Blueprint bundle from the start of the game. Simply place any fruit in the Separator to get Fruit Pulp, or any vegetable to get Vegetable Juice. Growing a mix of fruit and vegetable crops on your farm ensures a steady supply of both ingredients.

Feeder Upgrade Tiers

As you advance through the Rancher profession, you unlock upgraded Feeder stations that produce enhanced feed variants. Each tier of feed provides additional benefits to your animals:

The Mirth Feeder produces 11 "Mirth" variants of standard feeds (e.g., Mirth Chicken Feed, Mirth Cattle Feed) that increase animal happiness when consumed. Happy animals produce higher-quality byproducts, which sell for more and are needed for advanced cooking recipes. The Mega Feeder also produces 11 variants with larger batch sizes, meaning you refill less often. The Love Feeder adds 12 variants including Love Royal Jelly, and its feed boosts breeding cooldown rates when placed in enclosures with breeding pairs.

Buying Feed vs. Crafting Feed

You can always purchase basic feed from Pastelle's shop at Green Pasture Ranch. This is convenient early on before you have the Feeder, but it gets expensive as your herd grows. Here is a quick comparison:

For most players, the ideal approach is to buy feed from Pastelle during the first few days while setting up your farm, then transition to crafting once you have a Feeder and a steady supply of Pasture Grass, Fruit Pulp, and Vegetable Juice.

Tips for Feed Production

• Grow crops for the Separator. Plant a row of fruit trees and a patch of vegetables specifically for feed production. This gives you a renewable supply of Fruit Pulp and Vegetable Juice without cutting into your sell crops.

• Stockpile Pasture Grass. Clear weeds and shrubs whenever you see them. Pasture Grass is used in multiple feed types, and running out is the most common bottleneck.

• Place Feeders near enclosures. Minimize walking distance by building a Feeder close to each cluster of animal pens. You will be refilling feed daily.

• Upgrade to Mirth Feed as soon as possible. The happiness boost from Mirth Feed directly improves product quality, which increases your income from selling animal products.

• Use the Love Feeder for breeding. If you are actively breeding animals, place a Love Feeder near your Breeding House to speed up the process.

• Collect eggs daily. Eggs are a key ingredient for Sheep and Cattle Feed. Check your Chicken Coop and Duck Coop every morning.

Feed and Animal Happiness

Animals that are fed daily maintain their happiness level and produce byproducts on schedule. If you skip feeding, animal happiness drops, and starving animals eventually stop producing entirely. The Item Quality System also applies to animal products: animals with happiness above 150 produce higher-star items that sell for significantly more. Using Mirth Feed instead of standard feed is the most direct way to boost happiness and push your products into higher quality tiers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do all animals eat the same feed?

No. Each animal species has its own dedicated feed type. You cannot feed Rabbit Feed to a chicken or Cattle Feed to a sheep. The Feeder's crafting menu shows only the feed types matching animals you currently own.

Can I automate feeding?

The Mega Feeder holds larger batches that last multiple days, which reduces how often you need to refill. Beyond that, there is no fully automatic feeding system in the current Early Access version. You still need to manually add feed to the Feeder station and place it in the enclosure.

Where do I get the Mirth Feeder blueprint?

The Mirth Feeder blueprint becomes available at Pastelle's shop or through Rancher profession progression. It requires a Worktable II to build, so you also need to advance your Crafter profession to unlock the Worktable II.